How to Land a Role in Customer Success
- Chad Horenfeldt
- Jun 29
- 6 min read
“How do I get into customer success?”. This is a question I hear frequently. It’s not surprising, given that the profession of customer success (CS) has grown exponentially over the last decade. This isn’t a Silicon Valley thing or even a North American niche role. Customer success has become a global phenomenon, and it’s here to stay.
I wanted to summarize my recommendations after successfully helping a number of talented individuals who were trying to break into the customer success profession. Yes, there are thousands of customer success roles out there for the taking. Yes, CS roles are even more accessible with the increasing trend of companies transitioning to fully remote work. The challenge is that customer success is also broad and ill-defined. In addition, some recruiters have little appreciation for what applicants without customer success in their title can bring to a company.
Getting your foot in the door is more than just changing your resume to highlight your customer-facing experience. There are specific steps you can take that will significantly increase your chances of landing your first role and this post will provide tangible advice that has helped others.
The #1 Tip to get Your First Customer Success Role
A typical approach to job searching is to list out the companies you want to work for and then look for open roles that you want to apply to. Another approach may be to just look for open customer success manager roles. These approaches may work for those with some experience but they are not recommended for those wanting to break into customer success.
Start by reviewing your resume or LinkedIn profile to identify the industries or professions for which you have experience. For example, have you volunteered at any non-profits? Have you worked in the media, education, or travel industry? Have you worked in marketing, sales, or finance? Create a list of these areas in which you have experience. Put a star beside the ones that you have the most experience with. Next, look for software companies (as they tend to have a customer success function) that serve the industry and/or function that you have the most experience in. Finally, look for open customer success roles that they may have and see if you know anyone who is connected to these companies.
If you have experience in an industry or function that a company serves, you have a competitive advantage over other applicants. You know that world. You understand what those customers are going through. You can use that knowledge and experience to your advantage in your CS job search, but that alone won’t get you the interview. You need to work your network.
Network and Join Customer Success Communities
This is a more obvious tip - build and work your network to help you get interviews. What isn’t obvious is that most people do this first without first identifying the industries and functions they have experience in. This first step shouldn’t be skipped over. Identify the companies that will be the best fit for you, and then utilize your network to establish connections with those companies. Look to see which of your LinkedIn connections work in any of these companies or have connections with people at these companies. Ask them for introductions or if they can send on your resume with an endorsement. You can even request that they help you setup informational interviews. In this way, when you reach out for help, you are specific in your asks and your outcomes. You will also have a much higher chance of being interviewed.
It’s also recommended that you join some of the great customer success communities out there so you can start to network with other CS professionals directly. There are some amazing CS communities that you should immediately join and start participating in:
Don’t be passive in these communities. Ask questions and ask for assistance. Highlight some content that you’ve just read or watched. The customer success community loves to help others - it’s in our nature! Use that to your advantage and build your network. Let people know that you are looking and be specific in the companies you want to target based on your experience.
Take Courses in Customer Success
Investing in customer success courses is one of the most intelligent decisions you can make. You can never go wrong by investing in yourself. I took the customer success leadership courses offered by the Success League, despite having years of experience in the industry, and I regularly attend courses offered by Pavilion. Customer success is continually changing and there are great courses out there that incorporate the best learnings into digestible courses.
By taking courses, you are gaining knowledge on how to be an effective customer success manager and you are also showing your prospective employer that you have a strong desire to learn. It can also help you build and grow your network.
Here are a few recommended organizations that offer customer success courses (message me if I'm missing any you recommend):
You may also want to consider taking technical courses or enrolling in a coding boot camp. Many SaaS companies offer highly technical products, and having a good understanding of how these products work can greatly help guide your clients as a Customer Success Manager (CSM). After completing my university studies, I returned to school and earned a postgraduate diploma in Applied Information Technology, which included instruction in front-end and back-end coding, as well as database fundamentals.
There are many good books out there as well such as the one I've written, The Strategic Customer Success Manager, which can guide you on how to become a strong performer.
Be OK With Taking a Step Back
You may be looking at customer success as a way to take a step up in your career, but it may require you to first take a step back. You may be shifting your career from areas such as sales, engineering, or another profession where you have more experience. This typically means that you may earn less when you start in customer success. You may also be coming from a profession where you have years of experience and have to start over again. You need to be ok with this. It’s not easy, but it will be worth it.
You should also consider starting off in customer support or business development at a start-up. It may not be feasible for you to jump right into customer success. Consider taking an entry-level role to gain more experience and to help work your way into a customer success role.
Taking a step back in your career requires you to swallow your pride and consider your long-term goals. There are many times in my own career when I’ve taken pay cuts or taken a lower title as I could see the long-term gains of the role I was taking on and the company I was joining. As mentioned earlier, your first role in customer success may not be the perfect role either, but it will get you a foot in the door that you can build your career off of.
Final Tip: Don’t Give Up
Breaking into customer success can seem like a maze with no clear exit. The challenge is that each company has slightly different criteria for what they are looking for in a CSM and there isn’t a clear blueprint. Some require more technical skills, some require more sales skills, some don’t require prior customer success experience and others will look for people with years of industry experience. It’s still very much the wild west. If you weren’t selected for certain roles, keep searching and apply for others. Try and find out why you didn’t get the role so you can change your interview approach or refine the type of CS roles you should be applying for. If you are passionate about customer success, don’t give up. It may take some time before you land your first role, but if you have the passion, you will find your role.
After you have identified the industries and functions that you have experience in and identified the possible companies that are hiring for CSMs (or other CS roles), leveraged your network to help you land an interview, and beefed up your experience by taking some CS related courses you have put yourself in a better position to nab that first CS role of your career. This won’t be easy but if you demonstrate passion and determination, companies will take notice as those are key skills needed to be successful in customer success. I wish you the best of luck.
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