Trying to Land a Role in Customer Success Without SaaS Experience? Here’s Where to Start.

Why should I hire you?
This is the question you need to answer during an interview.
Interviewers might not ask this question explicitly, but it is their duty to know.
But what if you’re applying for your first Customer Success role without having any SaaS experience?
You might think that most companies won’t hire you without it.
Here’s the truth:
Here’s how to position your past experience when applying for your first CS role, based on the skills companies look for in candidates.
If your customers referred to you by name and worked with you long-term, you have managed a book of business.
Ways to showcase this skill:
Showcase how you went above and beyond for the customer, even after the sale.
If you've trained, educated, or set expectations with a new employee, customer, student, etc., then you've onboarded someone.
Remember, anyone can be your customer; even other internal departments.
Ways to showcase this skill:
Showcase your ability to teach others and set realistic expectations.
You’ve worked with software if you have worked with computers. Employers want to know if you are competent with technology.
Ways to showcase this skill:
Showcase your ability to learn new software without excessive hand-holding.
It is impossible for one employee to do every job in a company. Unless you are a jack of all trades, you have worked with other departments.
Ways to showcase this skill:
Showcase your ability to work with others towards a common goal, even when you have different immediate goals, backgrounds, and experiences.
Almost everyone has handled an irate customer.
The difference in Customer Success is that you own the long-term customer relationship.
There’s little chance to buck them off to someone else and make it their problem.
This means that you are responsible for helping solve their problem and providing a great experience along the way.
The difference comes down to how you turn a bad situation into a good one and maintained it that way.
Ways to showcase this skill:
Showcase your ability to operate well under pressure and emphasize with others.
You may think that your job is fast-paced. In a software environment, your world can change in an instant.
New product releases, restructures, new responsibilities, company pivots; all these things can and will happen. So the company wants to know if you can handle the rocky waters ahead.
Ways to showcase this skill:
Showcase your ability to learn on the fly, roll with the punches, and drink from the firehose.
Hopefully, you now see that you aren’t too different from other Customer Success professionals.
Now it's your job to prove it to recruiters and hiring managers.
As you work on these thought exercises, use the STAR format. Be concise and stay resilient. You will join the ranks of CS professionals soon.
You will join the ranks of CS professionals soon.