Why am I a SaaS Sales Recruiter
When I was young (not that at 24 years of age I feel old) I was always the kid in the family who knew everything about the basics of technology. My parents would come to me and ask how to put their phone’s caller ID on private or to change / set a ringtone, I was always the kid who was asked to set up the WIFI or the new sky box that arrived in the house. Although they were not tasks of considerable difficulty, I always felt like I was a step ahead of most when it came to technology from a young age, I knew it was something I was good at however it was not something I strived to be a part of.
When I joined Ingenio I was given a tremendous wakeup call as to what technology looks like, when I thought I was quite tech savvy, in reality I was a complete noob. I was hit with a mountain of heavy learning and I had to drag myself through the mud to learn as much as I could about new technologies, new processes, how to speak to C level decision makers and to understand the roles that the talented individuals on the market were looking for.
I’ll never forget the day I was told to recruit a “Change and Incident manager” for one of our clients. I thought “what in gods name is this? there are surely only 3 of these in the country, I have never heard of this EVER” – In reality, there are plenty, I couldn’t believe it. It was at this moment I realised there is an abundance of talented professionals out there, who are hustling and killing it every single day to succeed and I don’t know anything about them.
I made it my mission to give the ever evolving beast that is the “Tech Industry” more respect and to try and understand how, if at all possible, Can I master my role in this industry and become the best at what I do.
I chose to focus on SaaS. SaaS Sales to be exact, I loved the idea of sales from all aspects, I have a background in bartending and promotional work for alcohol companies so upselling product was my forte and I have many small wins in upselling competitions from previous roles I was in, so the sales end of things was a no brainer. I chose to concentrate on SaaS because to revert back to my childhood when my dad used to say “you should be working for somebody like Vodafone and sorting out all the phone issues” I knew it was something I would quickly understand and if it was going to reflect my tech savvy younger years I knew I would make it my own space and I would nail it.
For me SaaS sales recruitment brings you on a journey, you meet highly talented sales candidates with a number of different specialities all across the entire sales wheel ranging from inside sales, SDR, BDR, Account Management & Customer Success.
I work with my clients not only to deliver a successful service but to build on their team, to take a candidate on a journey with a company on their mission to expand and succeed. When you speak to a Sales Director 1 month after they hired your candidate and they say “they’re getting on brilliantly, can you send me more people like him/her”
That is the best feeling.
I often refer back to my days as a bartender making cocktails, if somebody ordered the same cocktail twice in one night, it was the best compliment you could recieve, better than a €20 tip. It was a measure of your ability and success. I must have done something correctly and the same is for recruitment. The customer has ordered the same drink again, only in this instance the drink happens to be a brilliant sales candidate
Ingenio has given me the platform to succeed in my own space and to become the best at what I do. I will continue to network in my space and I will continue to grow my portfolio of SaaS organisations in Dublin who I am so proud to work with and to help on their journey of growth / expansion.
So why am I a fully focused SaaS sales recruiter? I see the work that a number of Ingenio’s SaaS clients do and it is something that I want to be a part of moving forward. I was unbelievably lucky to attend SaaStock 2019 on behalf of my company and I got to see the incredible work that SaaS companies are doing right now and I was delighted to be able to speak to some amazing people and this type of event only reinforces the incredible space that I am playing in.
The vision for myself is to become the number 1 in my space and to be the ex bartender that every Sales Director thinks of when they want to expand their sales team. I want to be the absolute go to SaaS Sales recruiter in Dublin
The most important thing to me is just to enjoy this journey I am on and if there’s going to be a couple of cocktails along the way, then I’ll enjoy them too
Ryan Kenny
SaaS Sales Recruiter at Ingenio Global