How to hire a Sales Development Representative
What the role does, the job description, the interview questions, and the 38-minute screening pack that tells you who can do the job before you book a single interview.
The role
What a Sales Development Representative does
A Sales Development Representative sits in the Sales function. The sections below give you the job description, the interview questions and the screening pack for the role.
Screen before you interview
The Sales Development Representative screening pack
Prospecting, sales instinct, communication and CRM hygiene. Every applicant gets one link. You get one ranked report.
- 1
Cold call us. Pitch a meeting in 45 seconds.
- 2
How do you research an account before the first touch?
- 3
Describe your outreach cadence and why it looks like that.
- 4
How do you handle 'send me an email'?
- 5
How do you stay motivated after 40 no's in a day?
Interview questions
Sales Development Representative interview questions
For the candidates who pass the pack. Each comes with a sample answer on the full page.
Ask these after the screening pack, not instead of it. A candidate who has already scored on B2B Sales Lead Generation, Sales Aptitude, Communication, Salesforce for BDRs has shown they can do the work, which frees the interview to do what a test cannot: find out how they think, how they explain themselves, and how they behave when something goes wrong.
- Ask every Sales Development Representative candidate the same questions in the same order. Comparable answers are the whole point; a different conversation with each person tells you who you liked, not who was strongest.
- Look for a specific example with a result, not a description of how the candidate would approach it in principle. Follow up once with “what happened next?” and stop talking.
- Score each answer before moving to the next question, and write down what was said rather than the impression it left.
- At volume, record the first 4 of these instead of calling. Candidates answer on their own time, the answers are transcribed and scored, and you keep live interviews for the shortlist.
The pack takes a candidate about 38 minutes, so a Sales Development Representative applicant arrives at this interview already measured on the parts you can measure without a meeting.
- 01
Why do you want to be an SDR, and where do you see it leading?
- 02
What do you know about our product and the buyers you would prospect?
- 03
How do you handle rejection, since it is constant in this role?
- 04
What does a strong day of prospecting look like to you?
- 05
How do you write a cold email that actually gets a response?
- 06
Walk me through how you handle a cold call.
- 07
How do you qualify a prospect before passing them to an account executive?
- 08
How do you research an account before reaching out?
Frequently asked questions
Send every applicant one link that carries 4 skills tests (B2B Sales Lead Generation, Sales Aptitude, Communication, Salesforce for BDRs), 2 personality inventories and 5 one-way video questions. springhire scores everything automatically and ranks the candidates, so you interview the top few. The free plan covers 10 candidates a month.
About 38 minutes for the tests, plus 10 to 15 minutes for the video questions. Candidates complete it on their own time, on any device.
A short brief, key responsibilities, must-have and nice-to-have skills and the requirements. The JD generator writes one for this role in a minute.
Questions that ask for a specific past example and a walkthrough of how the candidate thinks. This page lists 8 with sample answers, and the full bank has more.
Yes. The free plan includes every screening tool with 10 candidate credits a month and no card. Paid plans start at $39 a month.
Also hiring in Sales
How to hire an Account Executive
Closing skill, sales instinct, clear communication and CRM fluency are the four things an AE is paid for.
How to hire a Key Account Manager
Account strategy, relationship communication, CRM discipline and presenting to buyers.
How to hire a Sales Operations Manager
Sales process, CRM, analytics and continuous improvement.
