Entry Level Sales Jobs With No Experience: 5 Routes
By Mustafa Tarabya, founder of CVBooster · Published · Updated
8 min read
Entry level sales still hires on evidence of effort rather than a transcript, and the live adverts prove it. The constraint that changes the answer is the call quota: the seat exists to make a set number of outbound attempts a day, so the CV must show you can work under a number. Every requirement line below is quoted from an advert live on the employer's own careers page on 12 September 2026, and O*NET puts the median wage for sales representatives of services at $69,990 a year. Five routes follow, each with the CV section that wins the interview. Written by Mustafa Tarabya, who hired for his own company, read every application himself and now writes CVBooster's guides.
The five routes and what each advert demands
| Route | A live advert on this route | What it demands | Pay in the advert |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Software SDR | Verkada, Sales Development Representative, New York City | A degree or equivalent working experience | $60,000 to $65,000 on target |
| 2. Cold-call ADR | Samsara, Account Development Representative II, Atlanta | 50 cold calls a day, six months of any sales exposure | $54,621 to $73,440 on target |
| 3. Intern or new grad seat | Samsara, ADR Intern, Atlanta | Enrolled, or within a year of graduating | $21.70 an hour |
| 4. One year in any industry | Verkada, Enterprise Development Representative, Austin | One year of professional experience, any industry | Not published |
| 5. Skills over schooling | GitLab, Business Development Representative, remote North America | Phone, listening and writing skills, no degree line | $59,000 to $84,000 |
Route 1: the software SDR seat that accepts experience instead of a degree
The Verkada Sales Development Representative advert for New York City, updated 10 September 2026, lists one requirement under What You Bring: "Bachelor's Degree or relevant working experience". The or is the door. The same advert asks for the tools by name, "Salesforce.com and Outreach experience is a plus", and publishes an on-target range of $60,000 to $65,000.
Relevant working experience means any paid job where you persuaded a stranger to act. Say which stranger, and how often.
Sales development representative, CV experience section, retail to software, no degree (112 words)
Sales Floor Associate, Halvorsen Outdoor, Queens NY. March 2024 to present
- Opened conversations with roughly 60 walk-in customers a shift, four shifts a week, in a store where nobody is obliged to talk to you. - Sold 214 season passes over eleven months against a store target of 150, the highest of six associates. - Kept the store's call-back list myself in a spreadsheet: 340 names, called every one within 48 hours of a quote, 61 came back and bought. - Wrote the three-line follow-up text the whole floor now uses after a fitting appointment. - Learned Salesforce Essentials in my own time, 14 hours on Trailhead, badges dated May 2026.
Route 2: the cold-call seat, where the number is the job
Samsara's Account Development Representative II advert for Atlanta is the most honest one on this list. Its minimum requirements say: "Ability and willingness to make 50 cold calls a day." The experience bar is deliberately low and it tells you what counts: "At least 6 months of sales experience and/or sales prospecting ability. This can be sales related coursework, sales competitions, etc."
That clause makes coursework, competitions and a side hustle admissible evidence. What is not admissible is the word motivated with nothing under it.
Account development representative, CV section with no sales job at all (99 words)
PROSPECTING EVIDENCE, 2025 to 2026
- Ran a lawn and gutter round I built myself: 180 doors knocked over two summers, 31 became repeat customers, average ticket $85. - Placed 40 to 60 cold calls a week for eight weeks on the university phonathon, and finished second of 22 callers on pledges secured. - Placed third of 48 in the Kennesaw State sales competition, April 2026, role play judged on discovery questions. - Completed Professional Selling (MKTG 3100) with a graded cold-call recording and a written call plan. - Tools: HubSpot free CRM, self-taught, 240 contacts with next-step dates.
Route 3: the intern and new grad seat, paid by the hour
Samsara also runs the same role as a paid internship. The ADR Intern advert for Atlanta pays $21.70 an hour and carries the same call requirement. Its eligibility line reads: "Must be currently enrolled in an accredited 4-year Bachelor's degree program or within 1 year of graduation". The new grad version of the posting is worded identically and pays the full on-target range.
Inside that one-year window, apply to the new grad posting rather than the open one. The pool is smaller, and every CV in it is as blank as yours.
New graduate sales CV, summary and evidence block, no internship (92 words)
SUMMARY
Business graduate (Georgia State, May 2026) targeting an account development seat where the work is measured in calls made and meetings booked. Comfortable with 50 dials a day because I have already done 40 a week for two years, unpaid.
EVIDENCE
- Two years on the student ambassador team: 90-minute campus tours, 24 prospective families a week, plus the follow-up calls nobody else wanted. - Booked 46 of 70 alumni for the 2026 giving campaign phone drive. - Built and maintained the ambassador shift schedule for 18 people across two semesters.
Route 4: one year in any industry, and the door opens wider
Verkada's Enterprise Development Representative advert for Austin sets the bar at "At least 1 year of professional experience (any industry, sales preferred)" and puts the degree in brackets: "A bachelor's degree from a recognized university (Highly Preferred)". Highly preferred is not required. Two rows down sits the real job description: "The willingness to cold-call and the ability to overcome rejection".
A year in a warehouse, a clinic, a kitchen or a call center makes you eligible. Translate it into persuasion and volume.
Enterprise development representative, career changer from a clinic front desk, one year in (97 words)
Patient Coordinator, Bellrose Dental Group, Austin TX. August 2025 to present
- Handled 70 to 90 inbound calls a day on a two-person desk, with 11 minutes as the average hold-to-resolution time. - Recovered 138 lapsed patients over nine months by calling the recall list nobody had touched since 2024, worth about $41,000 in booked treatment. - Explained treatment plans and payment options to people who arrived planning to say no, and got 6 in 10 to schedule. - Kept the practice's Dentrix records clean enough that the 2026 recall audit found four errors in 2,100 records.
Route 5: skills over schooling, on an advert with no degree line at all
GitLab's Business Development Representative advert for North America never mentions a degree. What it asks for under What you'll bring is: "Positive and energetic phone skills, excellent listening skills, strong writing skills." It also expects tool fluency, "Proficiency in using Salesforce, Sales Navigator, and Outreach or similar prospecting and sequencing tools", and publishes a range of $59,000 to $84,000.
Adverts written this way are scored on the artifacts you can show. A written outreach sequence is an artifact. A course certificate is not.
Business development representative, skills and artefacts block, no degree (94 words)
WHAT I CAN SHOW
- A five-touch outbound sequence I wrote and ran for a two-person accounting practice: 120 prospects, 9 replies, 4 meetings, 1 client retained at $600 a month. - 300 logged cold calls from that project, with the objection and the outcome recorded for each. - Two writing samples: a 90-word first-touch email and the message that booked the retained client.
TOOLS
Salesforce (Trailhead badges, 2026) · HubSpot free CRM · LinkedIn Sales Navigator trial, 240 saved leads
HABITS
A daily dial log kept for 14 straight weeks without a gap.
What to put on the CV when you have none
Five rules, all drawn from the adverts above rather than from opinion.
- Lead with a volume. Every one of these adverts is a numbers job. Doors, calls, tickets, tours, patients: pick the one you actually counted and put it in the first bullet.
- Name the tool even if you learned it alone. Two of the five adverts ask for Salesforce and Outreach by name. A Trailhead badge with a date is stronger than "CRM experience".
- Count rejection. "300 logged cold calls" answers Verkada's "ability to overcome rejection" line better than any adjective.
- Use coursework only where the advert invites it. Samsara counts "sales related coursework, sales competitions". Nobody else here does.
- Show the next rung. Samsara's advert says successful representatives "can see promotion to a closing role in two years or less", and the Databricks Business Development Representative posting for Chicago wants "2+ years of sales or business development experience" and pays $95,000. That is the pay you are aiming at in year three.
Build it with how to make a resume and the first job resume guide, cut it to the advert using tailoring your resume to the job, then fix the skills block with the resume skills section.
Frequently asked questions
What is a entry level position?
An entry level position is a job the employer expects to fill with someone who has no track record in that function, and which carries a training program instead. In sales that means a development representative seat: you prospect and book meetings for a closer, and the advert states the call volume rather than years of experience.
What entry level jobs pay the most?
Among the adverts checked here, the software development representative seats pay most: GitLab publishes $59,000 to $84,000 and Databricks $95,000 for its Chicago posting. Samsara's on-target range is $54,621 to $73,440 and Verkada's is $60,000 to $65,000. O*NET puts the median for sales representatives of services at $69,990.
How to find entry level jobs?
Go to the employer's own careers page rather than an aggregator, because that is where the requirement line is published unedited. Filter by the words the adverts use themselves: development representative, associate, coordinator, new grad. The apprenticeship job finder run by the Department of Labor lists paid programs too.
How do i find an entry level job?
Pick five employers, read five adverts in full, and write down every requirement line. Then build one CV per requirement pattern rather than one CV for everyone. Two of the five adverts above accept coursework or any industry experience, and you would never know that from a job board summary.
How to find entry level positions?
Search the careers page for the job family, not the seniority. Sales teams label the bottom rung SDR, BDR, ADR or EDR depending on the company, and "entry level" rarely appears in the title. Verkada calls it Sales Development Representative, Samsara calls it Account Development Representative, GitLab calls it Business Development Representative.
How to look for entry level jobs?
Work the postings that gate themselves, because the pool is smaller. New graduate postings, internships and apprenticeships all exclude most applicants by design, which is why Samsara runs three versions of the same seat. Applying to the gated one you qualify for beats applying to the open one you do not.
More in this series: Getting in without experience
- Entry Level Project Manager: 5 Routes In With No Degree
- Entry Level Roles With No Experience: 6 Routes That Work
- How to Get Into the Police in the UK: 6 Entry Routes
Related articles
- Entry Level Project Manager: 5 Routes In With No Degree
- Entry Level Roles With No Experience: 6 Routes That Work
- Resume Objective Examples: 10 by Situation and Level
- How to Write an Internship Cover Letter (With Examples)
More articles
- European CV vs American Resume: What Actually Changes, Country by Country
- Executive Officer Competency Examples: 6 Full Answers
- Federal Resume Example: A Complete GS-9 Program Analyst
Looking for a worked example for your job title? Browse the resume examples by job title.