Why pre-screen SDRs before the role play interview
SDR hiring runs at volume, and the resumes compress into a single shape: a company, a date range, and a claim about exceeding target. What is missing is the number itself. Reps who genuinely carried a quota can tell you what it was, what they hit and what the team average was, without pausing. Candidates who did outreach without a target cannot, and no amount of enthusiasm in a role play will fill that gap. A short screen sorts the two before you spend a slot on either.
What actually matters when screening Sales Development Representative (SDR) candidates
- 01
Track record
Check quota history in real numbers: meetings booked per month, SQL acceptance rate by AEs, pipeline dollars sourced, and how they ranked against team quota in Salesforce or HubSpot dashboards.
- 02
Method and qualification
Probe their prospecting method: list building in ZoomInfo or Apollo, sequence design in Outreach or Salesloft, cold call opener structure, and how they qualify with BANT or MEDDIC before handoff.
- 03
Relationships and trust
Assess how they handle gatekeepers, multithread into buying committees, and keep cold prospects warm; ask for a nurture that converted months after the first no.
- 04
Drive and resilience
Test tolerance for daily rejection: dials or emails per day, how they recover after a rough block, and what coaching or call reviews changed their conversion rate.
Pre-screening questions to ask Sales Development Representative (SDR) candidates
12 questions grouped by what they test. Ask the same set in every screen and score answers on a consistent scale, or send them as an async video screen and compare answers side by side.
Numbers they carried
3 questions01Tell me about your past sales experience, including the target you carried and what you hit.
Listen forA quota figure, attainment against it and the team average, offered without hesitation, plus the period over which they sustained it.
Describes outreach volume with no target attached, or cannot recall what their own quota was.
02Can you describe your process for reaching sales targets?
Listen forMaths worked backwards from the target: meetings needed, conversion at each stage, and the daily activity that produces it rather than a general work ethic.
Answers with effort and persistence, with no arithmetic connecting activity to the number they had to hit.
03What motivates you to exceed your sales goals?
Listen forSomething durable enough to survive a bad month, tied to a specific stretch where they kept going, rather than a generic love of winning.
Motivation described entirely as money, with no account of what happens when commission is thin.
Repeatable method
3 questions04What strategies do you use for researching potential leads?
Listen forA named source and a trigger they look for, such as a hiring signal or funding event, plus how long they spend per account before reaching out.
Buys or downloads a list and works through it in order, with no qualification before the first touch.
05How do you prioritise your leads?
Listen forExplicit criteria they can name, whether a scoring model or their own heuristics, and what they do with accounts that score low but keep replying.
Works the list top to bottom, or prioritises by whoever answered most recently.
06Which CRM systems are you familiar with, and what did you use them for?
Listen forA named system with real daily use: sequences, task management and pipeline hygiene, rather than logging calls after the fact for a manager.
Treats the CRM as reporting overhead, or has run outreach from a spreadsheet with no record in the system.
Trust on the phone
3 questions07Are you comfortable making cold calls and handling objections?
Listen forA specific objection they hear often and the actual words they use, plus a clear view on when to stop pushing and leave the door open.
Comfort claimed with no example, or an objection handling approach that consists of talking past the objection.
08What techniques do you use to build rapport with potential clients?
Listen forRapport built on relevance rather than small talk: something specific about the account, and evidence prospects took their follow-up call.
Relies on personal charm or scripted flattery, with no research behind the opening line.
09Can you describe a time when you turned a negative interaction with a prospect into a positive one?
Listen forA real recovery with what they said and what changed, including cases where the recovery was simply acknowledging they had called at a bad time.
A rescue story with no detail, or a recovery achieved by discounting rather than by anything they did.
Resilience
3 questions10How do you handle rejection?
Listen forA concrete routine after a bad run: what they change, who they ask for help, and a specific stretch where the numbers were poor and they kept going.
Says rejection does not bother them, with no example of a genuinely bad month or what they did about it.
11How do you handle a long sales cycle?
Listen forA follow-up cadence with a reason to call each time, plus how they keep an account warm for months without becoming noise in the inbox.
Follow-up that consists of checking in repeatedly, or accounts dropped once they stop replying quickly.
12How do you approach setting goals for yourself?
Listen forPersonal targets above the assigned quota, tracked at a weekly or daily level, with an honest account of a period they fell short and adjusted.
Goals set entirely by their manager, or targets described with no way of knowing whether they were met.
How to score responses
Score every candidate on the same four criteria immediately after the screen. At this stage you are shortlisting for panel interviews, not making the final call.
Track record
35%5Quotes monthly meeting targets, attainment percentages, and accepted opportunity counts, and names the AEs and segments those numbers came from.
Method and qualification
25%5Walks through a live multitouch cadence, explains why a lead was disqualified, and shows discipline about what an AE will actually accept.
Relationships and trust
25%5Describes specific accounts revived through persistent, personalised follow up and shows AEs trusted the quality of their handoffs.
Drive and resilience
15%5Cites sustained daily activity volumes, names a specific coaching correction they applied, and shows measurable lift after it.
SDR resumes all claim target attainment and almost none carry the number. A one-way video screen lets you hear the figures and the delivery before you book a role play slot.
Try it on HirevireScreening FAQ
Process basics
How long should a pre-screening round for an SDR take?
Ten minutes across eight to ten questions, answered async. Async also matters here because the recording shows you how they sound and pace themselves, which is most of the job, and it scales to the volume this posting attracts.
Should the screen include a mock cold call?
Not yet. Save the role play for a shortlist. What the screen needs to establish is whether they carried a target, how they built a list, and whether they can take rejection. A role play with a candidate who has never had a quota tells you very little.
Evaluating answers
What is the strongest signal when screening an SDR?
Specific numbers offered without prompting: quota, attainment, meetings booked per month, and how that compared with the team. Reps who lived with a number recall it easily. Candidates who describe outreach volume without a target have told you they were never measured.
How do I screen candidates with no sales experience?
Weight resilience and method rather than track record. Ask about any role with rejection and a target, including hospitality, recruitment or fundraising. What you are looking for is evidence they kept going after a bad run and could say why the good runs worked.
Go deeper on this role
Sanat has been hiring since 2012 and watching the recruitment industry change up close ever since, and turned that screening process into Hirevire's video screening platform. LinkedIn
