To use a sales hiring assessment for SaaS sales development representatives (SDRs), give candidates a short version of the work: choose a prospect, write an opening email, and practise a buyer conversation. Explain the criteria beforehand, give specific feedback, and let them try again. Score what you observe alongside structured interviews and references.
A candidate can explain prospecting confidently in an interview, then struggle to choose an account or ask a useful question on a call. That gap leaves the sales manager trying to establish what went wrong while a new hire is still learning the job. A practical assessment gives you evidence of those skills before you make a hiring decision.
This guide outlines a five-step process, a fictional exercise you can use, and a scoring guide. It focuses on outbound SaaS SDR work; adapt the task for a role that mainly qualifies inbound enquiries.
The short version
- Test responsibilities the SDR will actually own.
- Give candidates the same information, preparation time and assessment criteria.
- Watch their reasoning, response to feedback, and the finished work.
- Record specific observations before discussing scores with other interviewers.
- Treat the exercise as one source of evidence about the candidate.
What should a sales hiring assessment tell you?
A sales hiring assessment helps you evaluate skills or characteristics relevant to a sales role. It can include a work sample, structured interview, or specialist assessment. The exercise in this guide is a work sample: candidates research supplied account information, write outreach and practise a conversation.
For an SDR, useful questions include:
| Skill | What you need to observe |
|---|---|
| Account selection | Can they identify a company that fits the target customer and explain why? |
| Written communication | Can they connect a relevant problem to a clear, concise message? |
| Questioning and listening | Do they investigate the buyer’s situation and respond to the answers? |
| Handoff accuracy | Can they give the account executive (AE) useful facts and unanswered questions? |
| Applying feedback | Can they understand a specific suggestion and apply it in a subsequent attempt? |
Decide which skills someone needs when joining and which your manager will teach. Product terminology and software familiarity may be trainable; the assessment should still check that candidates use the facts you provide accurately.
For a specialist sales assessment test, ask the provider what it measures and what evidence supports its use for your role.
Also Read: How to hire a sales manager for your SaaS Company
Why add a work sample to the interview?
An interview explores experience and decisions. A work sample lets you observe relevant tasks under consistent conditions. Use both in the hiring discussion.
Sackett and colleagues found structured interviews and work samples among the stronger selection methods in their broad analysis. Those findings cover research across jobs and assessment designs; they do not establish the predictive accuracy of this SDR exercise.
There is also a practical reason to clarify expectations early. The Bridge Group’s 2025 SDR research, covering 351 B2B companies, reported an average ramp time of three months. Your onboarding period will depend on the role, person, and support available. Before hiring, establish what the candidate can already do and what the manager will need to teach.
Run the assessment after discussing the role, working arrangements and compensation. Use the SDR hiring guide for the wider process, from defining the role to onboarding.
How do you run an SDR assessment in five steps?
1. Agree the task and scoring criteria
Start with the job. An outbound SDR choosing target accounts needs a different exercise from an inbound SDR deciding whether an enquiry is ready for an AE. Use a recruiting intake form to agree the role’s responsibilities and required evidence before choosing the exercise.
Choose a small set of observable skills, then define what strong and incomplete work look like. Give each candidate the same product information, buyer scenario and criteria. Agree the interviewer’s answers before the first session so the difficulty stays comparable.
As Daniel Elding puts it in his GTM Insights conversation about building sales teams:
“it has to come down to something more than just a gut feel.”
Use written criteria to explain each score with an observation from the exercise. A fluent answer alone should not decide the result.
2. Give candidates a short, self-contained brief
Provide the product, target customer, and fictional account information they need. Ask for an account choice, an email under 100 words, and three questions they would ask the buyer. Set a preparation time and tell them how the session will work.
Use fictional material so the exercise does not become unpaid prospect research for your business. Candidates should not need to contact anyone or buy software to complete it.
Explain your AI-use policy. If AI is allowed, ask candidates to disclose how they used it and check the output against the supplied facts. In the interview, ask them to explain their choices in their own words. Offer a way to request adjustments to the format or timing.
3. Discuss the work and practise the conversation
Ask why the candidate chose the account and what they still need to learn. Review the email, then have an interviewer play the buyer.
Use the same opening objection and underlying facts for everyone. Watch whether the candidate listens, asks relevant follow-up questions, and proposes a reasonable next step. Check accuracy against the brief without expecting knowledge of product details you never supplied.
After the conversation, ask for a short AE handoff: what the buyer confirmed, what remains unknown, and the agreed next action. This reveals whether the candidate can separate a promising conversation from a qualified opportunity.
4. Give feedback and repeat part of the task
Choose one observable behaviour. For example: “You explained the product before finding out how the team handles onboarding. Try asking about their current process first.”
Let the candidate ask for clarification, then repeat the relevant part of the conversation. Record what changed. A second attempt can show how they apply that feedback in the exercise; it cannot establish how they will respond to every future coaching conversation.
Check that the instruction was clear. Avoid treating one awkward response as a fixed personality trait.
5. Score independently, then compare the evidence
Each interviewer should record observations and scores before the group discussion. Discuss disagreements by returning to what the candidate said or did.
If a skill was not tested clearly, mark it as unobserved. Decide whether a focused follow-up is needed. Combine the assessment with interview and reference evidence before making the hiring decision; a total score should not hide an important unanswered question.
What instructions can you send to candidates?
SaaS SDR assessment brief
You will choose a fictional company to contact, write a short email and practise a conversation with an interviewer playing the buyer. We will discuss your choices, give feedback, and let you try part of the conversation again.
Product: Our fictional software helps SaaS customer success teams coordinate customer onboarding. It assigns tasks, tracks ownership, and shows overdue steps.
Target customer: SaaS businesses with 50–250 employees and an established customer success team. The buyer usually leads customer onboarding or customer success operations.
Problem to investigate: Delayed onboarding caused by unclear task ownership.
| Company | Information provided |
|---|---|
| A | A 120-person SaaS business is adding customer success managers. In a fictional public interview, its onboarding lead says handoffs between teams are difficult to track. |
| B | A 40-person SaaS business uses an onboarding spreadsheet. No one has reported a problem with its current process. |
| C | A 220-person SaaS business has a large customer success team and an established onboarding platform. No unmet need has been confirmed. |
Prepare these three items:
- Choose the company you would contact first. Explain your choice and what you still need to learn.
- Write an opening email to the buyer in fewer than 100 words.
- Prepare three questions for Company A, which everyone will use for the practice conversation, regardless of the company chosen for the email.
Allow 20 minutes for preparation. The interview, feedback, and second attempt take another 20 minutes. After the buyer conversation, write a short note for the account executive (AE) covering confirmed facts, unanswered questions, and the agreed next step.
Use only the supplied facts. Do not research real companies or contact anyone. You may use AI to prepare the email; explain how you used it and check its accuracy. Be ready to discuss your reasoning in your own words.
We will assess your account choice, message clarity, questioning, handoff accuracy, and use of feedback. Tell us before the session if you need to adjust the timing or format.
How should the hiring team run this example?
The 40-minute schedule is an illustrative starting point: 20 minutes of preparation, five minutes to discuss the account and email, six minutes for the buyer conversation, three minutes for handoff notes, and six minutes for feedback and a second attempt. Trial it with a colleague and adjust the timing before inviting candidates.
Account choice: Company A offers the clearest combination of target-customer fit and a stated problem. The candidate still needs to establish its impact and whether the buyer wants to change anything. Company B falls below the stated size range. Company C fits the range, but its reason to consider another product is unknown. Accept a different choice when the candidate explains it convincingly using the facts.
Email: Look for a relevant reason to contact the buyer, a clear question and accurate claims. The candidate can refer to Company A’s fictional public interview. They should not imply an earlier personal conversation or invent a budget, deadline or purchase decision.
Buyer conversation: Use Company A for every candidate’s role-play, regardless of their initial account choice. Tell them which company they are calling. The interviewer can use these fictional facts:
| Part of the conversation | Interviewer guidance |
|---|---|
| Opening objection | “We already track onboarding in a spreadsheet. What would be different?” |
| Current process | Customer success managers update separate sheets; handoffs can be missed. |
| Impact, if asked | Some customer launches are delayed, but the team has not measured the total impact. |
| Buying situation | There is no approved software budget or agreed buying timetable. |
| Reasonable next step | A further conversation to understand the process and whether the problem merits investigation. |
Handoff: Good notes preserve what was confirmed and label the gaps. “Interested in exploring the problem” should not become “ready to buy.”
Feedback: Give one specific suggestion about something you observed. Repeat the relevant part of the call and note the change.
How do you score the exercise fairly?
Use the same scale for each skill: 1 = not demonstrated despite a clear opportunity; 2 = partly demonstrated; 3 = clearly demonstrated; 4 = clearly demonstrated with well-supported reasoning. Record an example beside each score. Use “not assessed” when the exercise did not give a fair opportunity to demonstrate a skill; do not assign a 1 in that situation.
| Skill | Evidence of strong work | A gap to investigate |
|---|---|---|
| Account selection | Connects customer fit and a relevant problem; identifies unknowns | Treats company size or hiring activity as proof of buying intent |
| Written clarity | Uses supplied facts, one relevant problem and a clear question | Invents claims or relies on a generic product pitch |
| Questioning | Builds on the buyer’s answers to understand the situation | Repeats prepared questions without responding to the buyer |
| Handoff accuracy | Separates confirmed facts, gaps and the next step | Adds budget, urgency or authority the buyer never confirmed |
| Applying feedback | Makes an observable change and explains the reasoning | Does not yet apply the suggestion after the feedback has been clarified |
Agree any weighting beforehand and review missing evidence in context. This scale is a discussion aid, not a validated hiring threshold.
For an AE role, use the account executive interview scorecard to assess the wider responsibilities involved in closing business.
What mistakes weaken an SDR assessment?
Changing the difficulty between candidates. Keep the brief, buyer facts and opening objection consistent. Relevant follow-up questions can vary with the conversation.
Rewarding polish without checking reasoning. Ask why the candidate chose that account, sentence or question. A finished email provides only part of the evidence.
Assigning excessive unpaid work. Keep the task proportional to the skills being assessed. Tell candidates the expected time and remove work that adds little useful evidence.
Discussing impressions before recording observations. Independent notes give the team concrete evidence to compare.
Treating one result as a complete verdict. A strong first call, weak second attempt or high total score needs context. Consider preparation, instructions, relevant adjustments, and the evidence from other hiring stages.
Frequently asked questions
How long should an SDR hiring assessment take?
This example takes approximately 40 minutes, including preparation and the live session. Treat that as a design choice to test, rather than an industry benchmark. State the expected time in advance and adjust the format when needed.
Can this exercise assess inbound SDRs?
Adapt it to an inbound enquiry. Supply the buyer’s initial request and your qualification criteria, then assess how the candidate investigates gaps and decides the next step. Keep the task aligned with the actual role.
Can a candidate perform poorly and still be hired?
Yes. Establish what the result shows, what remains unobserved, and whether instructions or adjustments affected the task. Use interviews, references, and focused follow-up to close key gaps. Avoid a universal rejection rule based on one score.
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