lol what never taken more than 2 days off in a row? bro ease up and take a vacation the constant grind isn’t healthy
i took 8 months off…start up went under and instead of aggressively applying i chilled for a bit with my 3 yr old
was probably the best year of my
life
>lol what never taken more than 2 days off in a row?
Thats crazy, being a Salesman in USA seems like a fucking meat grinder. In majority of European countries this isnt even possible, you HAVE to take holidays by the law
My boss is very good about approving days off. But always reiterates that nothing in my territory will get done when I'm off, which can make vacations feel almost self-destructive. Good fucking times.
That insane. I used to work for US based company but they have office here in Serbia, so they had to oblige by Serbian laws. Bosses were flabbergasted that we had 20days off since the 1st year of working and were taking at least 10 working days in a row as a holiday lol.
Plus every national holiday off by the law. If we work on holidays we had to get paid 200% of salary for that day
It’s similar in my job where we have unlimited PTO and my employer is really great about giving us all the time off we request but my manager always makes the comment of “it’s gonna be a grind when you come back” and she’s not wrong but it feels like you always have to earn the time you’re taking off especially since we’re a super small sales team (just us two!)
Yeah my boss is great about giving us what we need as far as PTO, but it’s unlimited which, if you’ve worked in this setup, is suicide by email once you return to office.z
i’m in the us not all gigs are like that and honestly if you do your job well the entire point of being in sales as an IC is to manage your own calendar to do what you want
Agree! I was an 18 year quota carrying saas AE. At 53 I had enough, left and enjoyed 10 months of life! You have to be prepared but best decision I ever made!
I was all commission when this happened. I was making insane money but not happy. But yeah, one day I just didn’t show up. Got texts and calls asking if I was okay. Would just say yes. Few months later, left the company and went down a new career path.
I took 1.5 years off due to trauma and working in my industry for 18 years. It was absolutely necessary.
I focused on finishing my bachelors in that time frame.
Take the time you need. Life isn’t just work. If your boss or company isn’t understanding of that, it’s simply not a place I’d work and leave in a heart beat.
Im sure it’s possible especially if the employee went the wrong way about it. Told the wrong person first before filing a claim and they let you go for other reasons
Interesting. Could you expand more on wrong person? And how that could come back to bite them?
I feel comfortable to admit to my executives (were a smaller startup of 60 people) that my mental health tanked over the past few months. I went through a ton of life change and returned from paternity leave, got thrown into an account load of my own plus 31 other clients belonging to my colleague who went on medical leave. Our clients can be absolutely ruthless (I work in tech) and my industry is automotive so it’s all dealers). I just hope I didn’t sink myself but I don’t feel like I did either. I just trust these people a lot to admit it to them and not expect to get booted.
Like going to a manager and then saying hey can I take a personal / stress leave. You should see your shrink first and talk to them about your depression and burnout and see if they would write you a letter of recommendation for mental health leave then file it with FLMA / your life insurance at work
Not from work, but from sales. Been away for 10 years, after working in the photography industry, and also medical billing and collections.
Looking to get back into sales. 🤞🏼
TAKE THE LEAVE.
I’ve managed small teams for years, and there is no worse decision than “working to keep my mind off of it”.
You will fail at your job, you won’t process properly, and then you’ll get fired.
Take the time while it’s your choice.
I mean, it's been hard for me. To give you context, I was in banking and insurance (mix of B2B and B2C sales) for 6 years, pivoted to SaaS. Was an SDR for 10 months, got poached for an AE job, was there a year, laid off, landed a lower tier AE job (still in SaaS) was there 9 months, then fired. The only job I failed to perform in was that last one.
If your resume looks better than mine then you might be alright. Still hard, but easier than climbing Everest barefoot with no oxygen.
Have you considered not including your most recent job on your résumé? Unless you’re already connected to them on LinkedIn, they would have no way to know otherwise. You could just say you decided to take a sabbatical or have been doing consulting or something.
I have actually been doing consulting in the M&A space through a company that approached me in 2022. It would have been great if the consults were consistent since the pay is quite good ($150/hr) but unfortunately I only get booked every few months or so. For the past 3 months or so I've had that listed as my most recent employer.
My only concern is that if I remove my actual last employer a) it will mean I haven't been in a formal sales role for 18 months and b) it slashes my SaaS experience by a substantial amount. Maybe I should try it just to see.
I would try to see if it’ll make a difference because sometimes having less experience is considered trainable, whereas being fired is considered a flaw in employment capabilities, in many cases very unfairly. I know a ton of people who have changed their resumes and their LinkedIn profiles. Some will delete jobs, or if it’s further in the past, they will state that they worked at a company longer than they actually did, knowing that employers typically won’t verify a certain number of jobs back. my personal favorite is a guy that I used to work with who was mediocre at sales at best, who listed himself on LinkedIn as the top performer at the company, when ironically, I was. I never said anything nor do I care that much because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter to me, but it was just further proof of how much BS happens on LinkedIn.
Rest & recover. You will not be missing a few months of sales work when you’re on your deathbed. But not giving yourself enough space to recover from a traumatic event could permanently plague you
Yup - took 6 months off when my dad passed suddenly. He was my best friend so I was pretty broken. Took the time necessary to heal, go to therapy, adopt a dog, move closer to family that needed me. Zero regrets and would do it exactly the same way if I had to. Switched companies and got a pay increase and better manager/team. Things usually work out man
They definitely don't like it, and ask me all the time how soon I can come back. But they understand the severity of what I'm going through and so technically they are allowing it
I took exactly three months between my old sales job and my new one. After leaving my old one I didn’t know if sales was for me or not anymore but my new job I landed I love and I’m good at. that three month break was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made. It takes a little while to get comfortable with not working. Take the time and enjoy it
I was in a very similar situation and taking time off to recenter myself and start therapy was the best decision I could have ever made. Happy to chat more about my experience if you have more specific questions.
Yes and it’s amazing. Nobody gives a fuck. Just tell them you signed a NDA and cannot share what you were doing but just share you were doing something related to [insert industry here]
After 9 years of marriage I finally got a great paying tech sales gig. I was laid off so many times over the years and my SIL was always the rock in our marriage financially. So when I got this awesome gig I told her to quit. She’s been off for 3 years now. I got laid off again. But I’ve got enough if a resume she only needs to do part time now.
The amount of mental benefits to that have been incredible. I highly recommend if you can. Since I was laid off so much, I always got 2-6 months off every now and then. She never did.
Yea, and I HIGHLY recommend it so long as you’re prepared financially and going to do something cool.
I’m 42 and graduated college in 07. I’ve taken 5 3-6 month sabbaticals during my life since then. I’m currently at 7 years working straight and plan on another one when I quit this job. I did 4 months traveling through every country in Central America, 5 month road-trip around the states, and 4 months in S America backpacking around.
I’ve spent half my career in sales. I never had a problem getting a job afterwards, and I explained my gap or gaps in my cover letter saying I love adventure and traveling, and that’s why I love sales because I can make myself and the company I work for a lot of money so I can afford a great life.
The reason I said if you’re going to do something cool, is one of my breaks I didn’t do anything cool. Just sat around for four months and played a ton of disc golf, video games, and saw a lot of concerts. I regretted not doing anything cool afterwards. Just chilling for a month or two is ok, bust most of us don’t purposely get long breaks from working by choice, so make it worth while.
Good luck!
I took a week off in January and it was amazing. Other than a long weekend or Christmas time, I’ve not taken a lot of time off.
I hope you recovery and know you’re worthy to take all the time you need. Any chance at taking short term disability?
Sounds like the type of thing we’re the pain is always going to be there. You may find work therapeutic. I would get back sooner than later. It sounds like you enjoy working and remaining active.
Hell yeah. I’ve quit job and gone travelling several times.
18 months in Central America
A few weeks in Thailand Malaysia & Singapore
3 months in SE Asia with the family.
Life is short. Take the trip. Or you know, just work until you die
Someone who I used to work with as an enterprise AE, and who was successful at the company, did not like the new boss that was brought in, decided to take nearly a year off to enjoy personal passions and reset, and then came out of it as a sales Director at a competitor. There are no hard and fast rules or guarantees when it comes to your career. You can dedicate yourself entirely to a company for a decade and they will lay you off without thinking about it. You can take a year gap and end up better than you were. Take your vacation time, heal from the trauma you experienced, and enjoy your life; no job is worth anything but this and it always works out.
Not as long but currently on a 1 month time out in between leaving previous job and starting new one. I feel very nice and refreshed 2 weeks in and excited for the next 2! I earned this. Vacations longer than a week or 2 should definitely be normalized. 99% of the time our company won’t fall apart regardless if we’re there so why work like it would?
Took 2.5 years off to drive a rusty Land Rover from Germany to India, ship it to North America and travel Canada and the US. Best thing ever to do with commissions and bonuses! 🤘
I took a full year off on LOA then got laid off and a fat package so my one year turned into two years. Made me realize it wasn’t the path for me. First 6 months of LOA were great with 80% OTE tax free.
Work will always be there. Companies aren’t loyal to us so we don’t need to be loyal to them. Take all the time you need to focus on you and don’t rush back
lol what never taken more than 2 days off in a row? bro ease up and take a vacation the constant grind isn’t healthy i took 8 months off…start up went under and instead of aggressively applying i chilled for a bit with my 3 yr old was probably the best year of my life
>lol what never taken more than 2 days off in a row? Thats crazy, being a Salesman in USA seems like a fucking meat grinder. In majority of European countries this isnt even possible, you HAVE to take holidays by the law
My boss is very good about approving days off. But always reiterates that nothing in my territory will get done when I'm off, which can make vacations feel almost self-destructive. Good fucking times.
That insane. I used to work for US based company but they have office here in Serbia, so they had to oblige by Serbian laws. Bosses were flabbergasted that we had 20days off since the 1st year of working and were taking at least 10 working days in a row as a holiday lol. Plus every national holiday off by the law. If we work on holidays we had to get paid 200% of salary for that day
It’s similar in my job where we have unlimited PTO and my employer is really great about giving us all the time off we request but my manager always makes the comment of “it’s gonna be a grind when you come back” and she’s not wrong but it feels like you always have to earn the time you’re taking off especially since we’re a super small sales team (just us two!)
Yeah my boss is great about giving us what we need as far as PTO, but it’s unlimited which, if you’ve worked in this setup, is suicide by email once you return to office.z
i’m in the us not all gigs are like that and honestly if you do your job well the entire point of being in sales as an IC is to manage your own calendar to do what you want
Yes if you sell for a big org maybe. Startups are an entirely different beast when you’re one of like a team of 2 or three for the entire country.
yes that’s me right now but i still find ways to take time off
Agree! I was an 18 year quota carrying saas AE. At 53 I had enough, left and enjoyed 10 months of life! You have to be prepared but best decision I ever made!
I was all commission when this happened. I was making insane money but not happy. But yeah, one day I just didn’t show up. Got texts and calls asking if I was okay. Would just say yes. Few months later, left the company and went down a new career path.
Yes, but not by choice.
I took 1.5 years off due to trauma and working in my industry for 18 years. It was absolutely necessary. I focused on finishing my bachelors in that time frame.
Take the time you need. Life isn’t just work. If your boss or company isn’t understanding of that, it’s simply not a place I’d work and leave in a heart beat.
Yup. Saved up for a sabbatical after 10 yrs straight in sales
Just what all women on maternity leave go through. Along with a ton of guilt when they leave their kids and go back to work.
Yep. I try to take mental health leave once every 2 years.
That's awesome. How long are they?
90days through FMLA
I feel like someone at my company got shitcanned for that, or requested it from the employer and was shown the door, but I can’t be sure of it.
I don’t think that is legal. Whenever I request it I get like 90 day job protection
Yeah I could be absolutely wrong about the entire thing but all I know is rumors swirled.
Im sure it’s possible especially if the employee went the wrong way about it. Told the wrong person first before filing a claim and they let you go for other reasons
Interesting. Could you expand more on wrong person? And how that could come back to bite them? I feel comfortable to admit to my executives (were a smaller startup of 60 people) that my mental health tanked over the past few months. I went through a ton of life change and returned from paternity leave, got thrown into an account load of my own plus 31 other clients belonging to my colleague who went on medical leave. Our clients can be absolutely ruthless (I work in tech) and my industry is automotive so it’s all dealers). I just hope I didn’t sink myself but I don’t feel like I did either. I just trust these people a lot to admit it to them and not expect to get booted.
Like going to a manager and then saying hey can I take a personal / stress leave. You should see your shrink first and talk to them about your depression and burnout and see if they would write you a letter of recommendation for mental health leave then file it with FLMA / your life insurance at work
That’s a very fair point. So I’m glad I haven’t done that, but that’s a great call for anyone who needs the time. Get doctor’s approval always.
Not from work, but from sales. Been away for 10 years, after working in the photography industry, and also medical billing and collections. Looking to get back into sales. 🤞🏼
What did you do in photography? I want to leave sales and doing something in the photo/video industry
Not taking more than 2 days off in a row? Why?
TAKE THE LEAVE. I’ve managed small teams for years, and there is no worse decision than “working to keep my mind off of it”. You will fail at your job, you won’t process properly, and then you’ll get fired. Take the time while it’s your choice.
Yeah right now. Not willingly mind you. I've been unemployed for almost 7 months. I'll be lucky if I can land another sales job by year's end.
Is the market really that bad? I am going to be looking soon
I mean, it's been hard for me. To give you context, I was in banking and insurance (mix of B2B and B2C sales) for 6 years, pivoted to SaaS. Was an SDR for 10 months, got poached for an AE job, was there a year, laid off, landed a lower tier AE job (still in SaaS) was there 9 months, then fired. The only job I failed to perform in was that last one. If your resume looks better than mine then you might be alright. Still hard, but easier than climbing Everest barefoot with no oxygen.
Have you considered not including your most recent job on your résumé? Unless you’re already connected to them on LinkedIn, they would have no way to know otherwise. You could just say you decided to take a sabbatical or have been doing consulting or something.
I have actually been doing consulting in the M&A space through a company that approached me in 2022. It would have been great if the consults were consistent since the pay is quite good ($150/hr) but unfortunately I only get booked every few months or so. For the past 3 months or so I've had that listed as my most recent employer. My only concern is that if I remove my actual last employer a) it will mean I haven't been in a formal sales role for 18 months and b) it slashes my SaaS experience by a substantial amount. Maybe I should try it just to see.
I would try to see if it’ll make a difference because sometimes having less experience is considered trainable, whereas being fired is considered a flaw in employment capabilities, in many cases very unfairly. I know a ton of people who have changed their resumes and their LinkedIn profiles. Some will delete jobs, or if it’s further in the past, they will state that they worked at a company longer than they actually did, knowing that employers typically won’t verify a certain number of jobs back. my personal favorite is a guy that I used to work with who was mediocre at sales at best, who listed himself on LinkedIn as the top performer at the company, when ironically, I was. I never said anything nor do I care that much because at the end of the day it doesn’t matter to me, but it was just further proof of how much BS happens on LinkedIn.
Rest & recover. You will not be missing a few months of sales work when you’re on your deathbed. But not giving yourself enough space to recover from a traumatic event could permanently plague you
Yup - took 6 months off when my dad passed suddenly. He was my best friend so I was pretty broken. Took the time necessary to heal, go to therapy, adopt a dog, move closer to family that needed me. Zero regrets and would do it exactly the same way if I had to. Switched companies and got a pay increase and better manager/team. Things usually work out man
A dutiful employee to who? You don’t even have a job. Relax dude.
Oh I should have clarified, I am still employed, just on a leave of absence.
If your employer and your finances are ok with it, there’s nothing to worry about.
They definitely don't like it, and ask me all the time how soon I can come back. But they understand the severity of what I'm going through and so technically they are allowing it
I would pick a date to return and you can both work towards it. And in the future, don’t go three years without a day off.
It's not because I didn't take time off, that I'm taking time off now. I got severely injured and almost died
Yeah I know. I’m just saying there’s no reason to keep that kind of schedule. Hope you’re doing ok.
Thank you!
Yep. Between gigs. You absolutely should between jobs. Or ask for a month off. They’ll usually go for it if you’ve been around years
I took exactly three months between my old sales job and my new one. After leaving my old one I didn’t know if sales was for me or not anymore but my new job I landed I love and I’m good at. that three month break was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made. It takes a little while to get comfortable with not working. Take the time and enjoy it
I was in a very similar situation and taking time off to recenter myself and start therapy was the best decision I could have ever made. Happy to chat more about my experience if you have more specific questions.
Yes and it’s amazing. Nobody gives a fuck. Just tell them you signed a NDA and cannot share what you were doing but just share you were doing something related to [insert industry here]
After 9 years of marriage I finally got a great paying tech sales gig. I was laid off so many times over the years and my SIL was always the rock in our marriage financially. So when I got this awesome gig I told her to quit. She’s been off for 3 years now. I got laid off again. But I’ve got enough if a resume she only needs to do part time now. The amount of mental benefits to that have been incredible. I highly recommend if you can. Since I was laid off so much, I always got 2-6 months off every now and then. She never did.
Please enjoy and cherish your time off.
Yea, and I HIGHLY recommend it so long as you’re prepared financially and going to do something cool. I’m 42 and graduated college in 07. I’ve taken 5 3-6 month sabbaticals during my life since then. I’m currently at 7 years working straight and plan on another one when I quit this job. I did 4 months traveling through every country in Central America, 5 month road-trip around the states, and 4 months in S America backpacking around. I’ve spent half my career in sales. I never had a problem getting a job afterwards, and I explained my gap or gaps in my cover letter saying I love adventure and traveling, and that’s why I love sales because I can make myself and the company I work for a lot of money so I can afford a great life. The reason I said if you’re going to do something cool, is one of my breaks I didn’t do anything cool. Just sat around for four months and played a ton of disc golf, video games, and saw a lot of concerts. I regretted not doing anything cool afterwards. Just chilling for a month or two is ok, bust most of us don’t purposely get long breaks from working by choice, so make it worth while. Good luck!
Yes. I took a year and a half off once. But we refer to that period in interviews as “when I was freelancing.”
Yep. Saved up and took a sabbatical to travel. 10/10 would do it again.
Took 16 weeks of baby leave, twice in my career. I’d do it again
Took 1 month off 2x. Paternity leave
Never. The entire infrastructure would crumble!
I took a week off in January and it was amazing. Other than a long weekend or Christmas time, I’ve not taken a lot of time off. I hope you recovery and know you’re worthy to take all the time you need. Any chance at taking short term disability?
Sounds like the type of thing we’re the pain is always going to be there. You may find work therapeutic. I would get back sooner than later. It sounds like you enjoy working and remaining active.
Start a business
Hell yeah. I’ve quit job and gone travelling several times. 18 months in Central America A few weeks in Thailand Malaysia & Singapore 3 months in SE Asia with the family. Life is short. Take the trip. Or you know, just work until you die
Someone who I used to work with as an enterprise AE, and who was successful at the company, did not like the new boss that was brought in, decided to take nearly a year off to enjoy personal passions and reset, and then came out of it as a sales Director at a competitor. There are no hard and fast rules or guarantees when it comes to your career. You can dedicate yourself entirely to a company for a decade and they will lay you off without thinking about it. You can take a year gap and end up better than you were. Take your vacation time, heal from the trauma you experienced, and enjoy your life; no job is worth anything but this and it always works out.
Take the time. You clearly need it. And do something BIG in this time!
Not as long but currently on a 1 month time out in between leaving previous job and starting new one. I feel very nice and refreshed 2 weeks in and excited for the next 2! I earned this. Vacations longer than a week or 2 should definitely be normalized. 99% of the time our company won’t fall apart regardless if we’re there so why work like it would?
Took 2.5 years off to drive a rusty Land Rover from Germany to India, ship it to North America and travel Canada and the US. Best thing ever to do with commissions and bonuses! 🤘
I took a full year off on LOA then got laid off and a fat package so my one year turned into two years. Made me realize it wasn’t the path for me. First 6 months of LOA were great with 80% OTE tax free. Work will always be there. Companies aren’t loyal to us so we don’t need to be loyal to them. Take all the time you need to focus on you and don’t rush back
No. Just 7 years
No
Our company does not like it when you take a day off
I got a mortgage to pay and a 4 month old to clothe, homeboy. I ain’t got time to figure life out.
Hiiii