Kirk
Losing It All
By his fifties Kirk had built what he thought was a very stable career. For two decades, he worked in mortgage sales. But when mortgage rates increased dramatically in 2022, everything changed overnight for Kirk. “When the mortgage rates doubled, tripled, that dried up every opportunity I had,” Kirk recalls. Walking away from a twenty-year career was not easy, but Kirk did not see another option.
What followed was a period unlike anything he’d experienced before. “This was the longest period of my life that I went without a role.”
Kirk had always been a provider and a breadwinner, distributing newspapers and helping out his father since he was 9 years old. His siblings viewed him as a “second ATM”—as he was always the go-to in a crisis. And today, he is a father of two young children.
It was a very difficult time. Kirk found himself taking whatever work he could find—temp jobs and short-term positions that offered neither security nor the income his family needed. Eventually, even those dried up, leaving him unemployed for seven to eight months.
“Not knowing where your money is coming from is devastating,” he reflects. “It was very, very stressful. You feel stuck. You don’t feel safe.”
A Door Opens to Tech Sales
“I was already interested in tech sales, but I didn’t have any real opportunity, any real path to learning it,” he explains. He tried talking to his friends in tech companies, but he didn’t get far. When he discovered Generation’s tech sales program, he signed up immediately.
“When you’re doing a free program you don’t expect them to be so comprehensive,” Kirk says. “It was very A to Z, hands-on. You’re actually working with the instructors day by day.”
For Kirk, a natural talent for and experience in sales was already in place. Yet the Generation program offered him a way to sharpen his skills in a totally new industry, with different workflows and a whole new knowledge base. “You actually have a skill that you can put on your resume and it has weight to it,” Kirk explained.
Building Something New
Today, Kirk works as a sales development representative for Service Titan.
“The base pay for this role is the highest I’ve ever had,” he shares. “I don’t worry as much knowing that I get paid today. I sleep at night.” He’s been able to make practical changes that offer him peace of mind like buying a minivan for his growing family and saving for his kids’ college education.
Kirk’s talent and work ethic combined with the skills he gained through the Generation program were a powerful combo. “I met my goal in the first month. Actually, I exceeded it by 188%,” Kirk notes.
Kirk sees his current role as a stepping stone to continuing to advance in the industry. “While I’m going from a sales development representative to an account executive, your income should double, if not triple,” he explains, outlining a clear growth path ahead.
“There’s no way I would have this role without Generation!” If I didn’t take that class, I would not be working at Service Titan. I can say that with 100% certainty,” Kirk shares.
For Kirk, Generation provided a pathway into an industry that had previously felt inaccessible, where he can now grow and flourish. “Even the next role I get, that’s going to be because of Generation,” he says. “It transformed my resume, my outlook, my opportunities.”