Also called: SDR, Business Development Representative, BDR
Finds and contacts potential customers to book meetings for senior salespeople.
You send 80 personalized emails, make 50 cold calls, and celebrate when two people agree to a demo. It's the classic entry job into tech sales, with a clear path to promotion.
Base plus commission; top SDRs get promoted within 1-2 years.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 2 years after high school. Bachelor's often preferred; hustle matters most.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Business, Communications.
Shrinking. Shrinking as AI handles outreach.
High risk for 10 years. AI SDR tools now research prospects and send personalized outreach at scale, cutting many of these entry jobs.
Classes: Speech and debate, English Language Arts, Business elective.
Official data: O*NET occupation 41-3091.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.