Sales Development Representative Interview Questions
Six question sets for the employer side of an SDR interview: 35 questions with a stated reason to ask each one, a cold call role-play, a written email test, and a 1-to-5 scorecard. Built for small businesses without HR. Download as DOCX.
The sales development rep is usually the first sales hire a small business makes after the founder stops doing all the prospecting, and it is the hire most often made on instinct. The job is narrow and unforgiving: research accounts, reach out cold, qualify whatever comes in, and book meetings for whoever closes. Most candidates are early in their careers, so there is rarely a track record to lean on.
At FirstHR, we build for owners and managers who run this interview themselves, with no recruiter and no HR department. This page is written for the employer side: six question sets, 35 questions that each state why they are worth asking and what a strong answer sounds like, two live exercises, and a 1-to-5 scorecard.
Settle the scope before you start. The questions only work once you have decided whether the role is inbound or outbound, who takes the handoff, and what counts as a qualified meeting, which is exactly what the SDR job description is for.
TL;DR
Interview a sales development rep on five things: prospecting discipline, qualification judgment, written and verbal communication, resilience to rejection, and coachability. Most SDR hires are early-career, so test potential with a live cold call role-play and a written email exercise instead of relying on a track record. Ask the same core questions of every candidate and score them all on one rubric.
What to Assess in an SDR
Assess an SDR on five things: prospecting activity and discipline, qualification judgment, written and verbal communication, resilience to rejection, and coachability. Closing skill is not on that list, because an SDR does not close. Interviewing for it is the most common way this hire goes wrong.
The second mistake is interviewing for experience the candidate cannot have. The applicant pool for this role skews early-career, so a structured interview that tests potential beats one that hunts for a track record. Written communication deserves more weight than most interviewers give it, because an SDR sends far more messages than they speak.
Activity and discipline
Structures a self-directed day without supervision
Honest about the volume they have actually run
Protects a calling block instead of reacting to the inbox
Qualification judgment
Applies a consistent standard out loud
Comfortable disqualifying a bad-fit lead
Hands off with written context, not a bare invite
Communication, written first
Short, specific, one clear ask per message
Opens a call with a reason, not a pitch
Listens and asks instead of talking through objections
Resilience and coachability
Treats rejection as information
Names real feedback and what changed after
Applies coaching inside the interview itself
The Six Question Sets
The questions below are grouped into four question sets, a set of live exercises, and a scorecard. Ask the core set of every candidate, then add the set that matches your motion. Every question carries a stated reason to ask it and a note on what a strong answer sounds like.
Core SDR Questions
Ask these of everyone
Nine base questions on role understanding, research, qualification, day structure, tools, and numbers. Each with why it is worth asking and what a strong answer sounds like.
Outbound and Cold Calling
Building pipeline cold
For a rep who works cold lists: openers, list building, cadence, objections, gatekeepers, and outreach hygiene that protects your sending domain.
Inbound Qualification
Working the leads you get
For a rep working marketing-sourced leads: speed to lead, disqualification, discovery openings, handoff quality, and no-show prevention.
Resilience and Coachability
Hiring for potential
How to evaluate a candidate with no sales track record: rejection tolerance, feedback history, motivation, and comfort with variable pay.
Live Exercises
Evidence, not claims
A ten-minute cold call role-play with a coaching round built in, plus a fifteen-minute written email test. Both with scoring lines.
Scorecard and Red Flags
Score, do not guess
A seven-area 1-to-5 rubric with evidence lines and an SDR-specific red-flag checklist, so the decision rests on the interview rather than a first impression.
Pick Two Sets, Not Five
Ask the core nine of everyone, then add outbound if the rep will build pipeline from cold lists, or inbound if they will work leads that marketing sends over. Add the resilience set whenever the candidate is early in their career, which is most of the time. Run both live exercises with finalists only. Trying to ask all 35 questions in one sitting produces a rushed checklist instead of the follow-up probes that actually tell you something.
35 Questions and Two Exercises to Download
Download all six as a single Word document or copy individual sets. Each set follows the same structure: when to use it, the questions with a reason and a strong-answer note for each, and space for notes. The last two files are the live exercises and the scorecard.
Download All 6 SDR Question Sets and the Scorecard
Core, outbound, inbound, resilience, two live exercises, and a 1-to-5 scoring rubric. All in one DOCX.
Set 1: Core SDR Interview Questions
Nine base questions for any SDR opening: role understanding, account research, qualification, day structure, tools, numbers, writing, and where they want to go next. Ask all nine of every candidate.
Core SDR Interview Questions
CORE SALES DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
HOW TO USE THIS SET
This is the base set for any SDR opening, inbound or outbound, junior or senior.
Ask all nine of every candidate so the comparison is fair, then add the set that
matches your motion. Each question lists why it is worth asking and what a strong
answer sounds like, so you can judge selling instinct without being a seller.
QUESTIONS
1. In your own words, what does a sales development rep actually do all day?
Why ask: the fastest way to find out whether the candidate understands that
this is a prospecting job, not a closing job.
Strong answer: research, outreach across phone, email and social, qualifying
replies, and booking meetings for someone else to close. Names the handoff.
Weak answer: describes closing deals, or answers in generic sales slogans.
2. Walk me through how you would research an account before reaching out.
Why ask: research quality separates a rep who books meetings from one who
burns your domain and your list.
Strong answer: a repeatable routine (company news, role, current tooling, a
specific trigger) and a reason the outreach is relevant to that person.
Weak answer: "I look them up online" with nothing beyond the company name.
3. What makes a lead worth passing on, and what makes one worth pushing back?
Why ask: tests qualification judgment, which is the part of the job that
protects your closer's calendar.
Strong answer: uses a consistent standard (need, authority, timing, fit) and
is comfortable disqualifying rather than booking anything with a pulse.
Weak answer: books every meeting, or treats every "not now" as a dead lead.
4. How do you plan your day when nobody is checking your calendar?
Why ask: the job is self-directed volume. Structure is the single best
predictor of whether the activity actually happens.
Strong answer: blocks time for research, calls, and follow-up, and protects
the calling block. Works from a list, not from inbox order.
Weak answer: "I stay flexible" or any version of reacting to whatever arrives.
5. Which tools have you used to run outreach, and what did you do in them?
Why ask: tool literacy shortens ramp, and specifics separate real use from a
resume line.
Strong answer: names a CRM and a sequencing or dialer tool, then describes
actual tasks: building lists, logging activity, running a cadence.
Weak answer: names tools with no task attached, or claims all of them.
6. What numbers were you measured on most recently, and how did you do?
Why ask: an SDR lives on a scoreboard. Comfort with the scoreboard is the
job, and vagueness here usually means the numbers were not good.
Strong answer: specific activity and outcome numbers, honest about misses,
with a reason and what changed after.
Weak answer: no numbers, or numbers that only ever went up.
7. Tell me about the best outreach message you have ever sent. Why did it work?
Why ask: SDRs write more than they speak. This surfaces writing instinct
before you get to the written exercise.
Strong answer: short, specific to the recipient, one clear ask. Can explain
the reasoning, not just recite the message.
Weak answer: a long template about their own product with no recipient in it.
8. How would you handle a prospect who says "just send me some information"?
Why ask: the most common brush-off in the role. The response shows whether
the candidate can hold a conversation without becoming a nuisance.
Strong answer: asks one clarifying question to find out what matters to them,
then proposes a specific next step with a time attached.
Weak answer: agrees, sends a brochure, and never follows up.
9. What do you want to be doing in two years, and how does this role get you there?
Why ask: SDR is a stepping-stone role. Aligned ambition predicts whether they
and a link between prospecting skill and getting there.
Weak answer: no answer, or a plan that has nothing to do with sales.
NOTES
__
__
Set 2: Outbound Prospecting and Cold Call Questions
For a rep who builds pipeline from cold lists: openers, list building, follow-up cadence, objections, gatekeepers, and the outreach hygiene that keeps your sending domain intact.
Outbound Prospecting and Cold Call Questions
OUTBOUND PROSPECTING AND COLD CALL QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set when the SDR will build their own pipeline from cold lists rather
than working leads that marketing sends over. Outbound is the harder half of the
role, so weight these answers heavily if that is your motion. Pair with the live
cold call exercise in Set 5.
QUESTIONS
1. How many cold calls and emails have you done in a typical day?
Why ask: sets an honest baseline for volume tolerance before you quote yours.
Strong answer: a real number with context (list quality, dial tool, connect
rate). Comfortable with the number rather than apologetic about it.
Weak answer: cannot say, or a number that clearly came from a job posting.
2. Walk me through your opening 20 seconds on a cold call.
Why ask: the opener is the whole game on a cold call and it is fully within
the rep's control.
Strong answer: identifies themselves, states a reason for the call tied to
the prospect, asks permission to continue. Sounds like a person, not a script.
Weak answer: launches into a product pitch, or has no opener at all.
3. How do you build a target list from scratch?
Why ask: at a small business the SDR usually owns list building too, and a
bad list makes every other skill irrelevant.
Strong answer: starts from the customer profile, uses firmographic filters
and a trigger, and prunes bad-fit accounts before calling.
Weak answer: buys or downloads a list and dials it top to bottom.
4. What does your follow-up cadence look like after the first touch?
Why ask: most meetings come from touches three through eight, and this shows
whether the candidate quits early.
Strong answer: a defined multi-touch sequence across channels over a set
number of days, with different angles rather than the same message repeated.
Weak answer: one email, then move on, or ten identical follow-ups.
5. Give me your best response to "we already have a vendor for that."
Why ask: the objection you will hear most. You are testing composure and
curiosity, not a clever comeback.
Strong answer: acknowledges it, asks what they use and what is working, and
looks for the gap. Does not attack the incumbent.
Weak answer: argues, or hangs up on the first objection.
6. How do you get past a gatekeeper without burning the account?
Why ask: tests judgment and honesty at the same time. Some tactics win a
connect and cost you the account.
Strong answer: treats the gatekeeper as a person, is honest about the reason
for the call, and asks for help rather than tricking their way through.
Weak answer: pretends to be a customer, a vendor, or a returning call.
7. Tell me about a stretch when nothing was working. What did you change?
Why ask: cold outreach has bad weeks. What they change under pressure tells
you whether they diagnose or just grind harder.
Strong answer: isolates a variable (list, opener, timing, channel), changes
one thing, and measures. Asks for help early.
Weak answer: "I just pushed through," with no diagnosis and no change.
8. How do you keep your outreach compliant and off spam lists?
Why ask: an SDR can damage your sending domain and your brand in a week.
Strong answer: mentions honest sender identity, a working opt-out, respecting
do-not-contact requests, and keeping volume per domain sane.
Weak answer: has never thought about it, or treats rules as optional.
9. What is the hardest meeting you ever booked, and how did you get it?
Why ask: a single detailed story tells you more than five hypotheticals.
Strong answer: a specific account, a specific path in, a real obstacle, and
what actually happened after the meeting.
Weak answer: cannot name one, or the story has no obstacle in it.
NOTES
__
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For a rep working marketing-sourced leads: speed to lead, disqualification standards, how they open a discovery call, handoff quality, and how they keep booked meetings from turning into no-shows.
Inbound Lead Qualification Questions
INBOUND LEAD QUALIFICATION QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set when the SDR will work leads that arrive from marketing, the
website, or a free trial. Inbound looks easier than outbound and fails in a
different way: speed, judgment, and disqualification matter more than grit. Ask
these alongside the core set.
QUESTIONS
1. A demo request comes in at 4:55pm on a Friday. What do you do?
Why ask: speed to lead is the one inbound variable a rep fully controls, and
this question gets an honest answer about their habits.
Strong answer: attempts contact immediately, by phone as well as email, and
does not wait for Monday. Explains why the first minutes matter.
Weak answer: queues it for Monday, or emails once and calls it handled.
2. How do you decide an inbound lead is not worth a meeting?
Why ask: disqualification protects your closer's calendar, and inbound reps
are the most tempted to pass everything through.
Strong answer: a consistent standard applied out loud, plus a graceful way to
route or nurture the lead instead of ghosting it.
Weak answer: books everyone, or disqualifies on a single surface signal.
3. What do you ask in the first two minutes of a discovery call?
Why ask: reveals whether they open with curiosity or with a pitch.
Strong answer: confirms context, asks what prompted them to reach out, and
listens. Questions are open-ended and short.
Weak answer: a feature tour, or a rapid-fire checklist of qualifying fields.
4. How do you handle someone who downloaded a guide but has no budget or timing?
Why ask: most inbound leads are early. The answer shows whether they can
distinguish "no" from "not yet."
Strong answer: qualifies out of the meeting but keeps the relationship warm
with a defined follow-up date and a reason to come back.
Weak answer: forces a meeting, or drops the lead entirely.
5. What information do you pass to the closer, and in what form?
Why ask: a sloppy handoff wastes the meeting the SDR just worked to book.
Strong answer: a short written summary of situation, problem, timing, and who
will attend, logged in the CRM before the meeting.
Weak answer: "I tell them verbally," or a calendar invite with no context.
6. How do you reduce no-shows on meetings you book?
Why ask: booked meetings that do not happen are the quiet failure mode of
inbound. Good reps have a system.
Strong answer: confirms in writing, sends a reminder, restates the value of
the meeting, and re-engages quickly after a miss.
Weak answer: has never tracked no-show rate or considered it their problem.
7. Tell me about a lead you turned away that you were pushed to book anyway.
Why ask: tests backbone and honesty about a real internal tension.
Strong answer: explains the standard they applied, how they raised it, and
what happened. Comfortable disagreeing with evidence.
Weak answer: has never pushed back on anything.
8. How would you tell us that our inbound leads are the wrong fit?
Why ask: your SDR sits closest to the market. A rep who can feed that back is
worth more than one who only executes.
Strong answer: brings patterns and examples, not complaints, and proposes a
change to the profile or the routing.
Weak answer: stays quiet, or blames marketing without evidence.
NOTES
__
Set 4: Resilience, Coachability, and Motivation Questions
How to evaluate a candidate with no sales track record: tolerance for repetition, response to rejection, what they did with critical feedback, what drives them, and comfort with variable pay.
Resilience, Coachability, and Motivation Questions
RESILIENCE, COACHABILITY, AND MOTIVATION QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Most SDR candidates are early in their careers, so there is often no sales track
record to evaluate. This set is how you hire for potential instead: rejection
tolerance, how they take feedback, and what actually drives them. For a first
sales hire, weight these answers as heavily as the tactical ones.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the most repetitive job you have held, and how did you stay sharp?
Why ask: prospecting is repetitive by design. Past tolerance for repetition
predicts survival better than enthusiasm does.
Strong answer: a real example with a personal system for staying consistent
(targets, streaks, competition with themselves).
Weak answer: has never done repetitive work and has not thought about it.
2. Tell me about the last time someone told you no. What did you do next?
Why ask: rejection is the daily texture of the job.
Strong answer: treats it as information, adjusts, and moves on quickly. Does
not take it personally and does not pretend it feels good.
Weak answer: dwells on it, or claims rejection never bothers them at all.
3. Describe a time you got critical feedback. What changed afterward?
Why ask: coachability is the highest-value trait in a junior SDR because the
whole role is a coaching loop.
Strong answer: names the specific feedback, the change made, and the result.
Sought the feedback out in some cases.
Weak answer: cannot recall any, or describes feedback they disagreed with and
ignored.
4. Teach me something you know well, in two minutes.
Why ask: a live test of clarity and structure, which is what a cold call is.
Strong answer: organized, checks whether you are following, adjusts. Ends
with a summary.
Weak answer: rambles, or explains at their own level with no check-in.
5. What motivates you more: hitting a number, or beating someone else's?
Why ask: both work, but they need different management. This helps you
coach them, not screen them out.
Strong answer: honest and self-aware, with an example that supports it.
Weak answer: says whatever they think you want to hear.
6. How do you feel about a compensation plan where part of your pay is variable?
Why ask: surfaces a mismatch now instead of in week three.
Strong answer: understands base plus variable, asks how the variable is
earned and measured, and is comfortable with the risk.
Weak answer: wants the entire package guaranteed, or does not ask how it works.
7. Tell me about a time you were behind on a goal with a week to go.
Why ask: shows what they do under time pressure, honestly or otherwise.
Strong answer: a specific plan, extra effort in the right places, and an
honest outcome including a miss.
Weak answer: every story ends in a heroic save.
8. What would your last manager say you need to work on?
Why ask: self-awareness, and a reference-check preview you can verify later.
Strong answer: a real development area with evidence they are working on it.
Weak answer: a disguised strength ("I care too much").
9. Why this company and this product, rather than any SDR job?
Why ask: motivation to learn your specific market is what makes outreach
sound credible.
Strong answer: has looked at what you sell and who buys it, and can say
something specific about it.
Weak answer: nothing about you at all.
NOTES
__
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Set 5: Live Exercises, Cold Call Role-Play and Email Test
A ten-minute cold call role-play with a coaching round built into the middle, plus a fifteen-minute written email test. Both include the exact brief to read out and printed scoring lines.
Live Exercises: Cold Call Role-Play and Email Test
SDR LIVE EXERCISES: COLD CALL ROLE-PLAY AND WRITTEN EMAIL TEST
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
WHY EXERCISES MATTER MORE HERE THAN IN MOST INTERVIEWS
Most SDR candidates are early-career, so answers about past performance are thin.
Two short exercises give you direct evidence instead of claims. Run both with
every finalist, using the same brief and the same scoring, and tell candidates in
advance what to expect. You are testing coachability and clarity, not polish.
EXERCISE 1: THE COLD CALL ROLE-PLAY (10 MINUTES)
Brief to give the candidate:
"I am the operations manager at a 40-person company. You have never spoken to me.
Call me and try to book a 20-minute meeting. I will be busy and mildly annoyed."
Run it for about five minutes, then stop and coach for two minutes, then run it
again for three minutes. The second run is the point of the exercise.
Reason for the call is about the prospect [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Listens and asks rather than pitches [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Handles the first objection without arguing [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Asks for a specific time [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
APPLIED THE COACHING ON THE SECOND RUN [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Notes: ___
EXERCISE 2: THE WRITTEN EMAIL TEST (15 MINUTES)
Brief to give the candidate:
"Here is a real target account and the name and title of one person there. Write
the first cold email you would send. Under 120 words. Then write the follow-up
you would send four days later if there is no reply."
Give the same account to every candidate. Allow research time. This exercise
matters because an SDR writes far more messages than they speak.
Score:
Relevant to this specific person and company [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Under 120 words and easy to skim [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
One clear ask, not three [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Written in plain language, no jargon wall [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Follow-up adds a new angle, not a repeat [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Spelling, grammar, and the prospect's name right [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Notes: ___
WHAT TO WEIGHT
For a junior hire, the coaching line in Exercise 1 is the most predictive score
on this page. A candidate who takes two minutes of feedback and visibly changes
the second call will improve every week they work for you. A polished first call
with no change on the second is a worse signal than a rough call that improved.
Set 6: SDR Interview Scorecard and Red Flags
A seven-area 1-to-5 rubric with evidence lines and an SDR-specific red-flag checklist, so the decision rests on what the candidate said and did rather than on which conversation felt best.
SDR Interview Scorecard and Red Flags
SDR INTERVIEW SCORECARD AND RED-FLAG CHECKLIST
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Role: [ ] Outbound [ ] Inbound [ ] Both Date: _
HOW TO SCORE
Score each area from 1 to 5 immediately after the interview, while it is fresh.
Anchor every score to something the candidate actually said or did. If more than
one person interviews, each scores independently before the group talks, so the
loudest opinion does not set the tone. Use the same rubric for every candidate.
5 = Strong, specific evidence 4 = Solid evidence 3 = Some evidence
2 = Weak or mixed evidence 1 = No evidence or red flags
SCORING AREAS
Understands the role: prospecting and handoff, not closing
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Activity discipline: self-directed structure and honest volume
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Qualification judgment: can disqualify and can explain the standard
Note: for a junior SDR, a high coachability score with a middling role-play score
usually beats the reverse. Skill is teachable in weeks; the willingness to be
coached is not.
The Cold Call Role-Play and the Email Test
Two short exercises will tell you more about an SDR candidate than an hour of questions, because most of them have no track record for you to interrogate. Run both with every finalist, using the same brief and the same scoring lines, and say up front that exercises are part of the process.
The cold call role-play has one design detail that matters more than the rest. Run it for about five minutes, stop, coach for two minutes, then run it again. The second attempt is the measurement. A rough first call that visibly changes after feedback is a far better signal than a polished first call that stays identical, because prospecting technique is teachable in weeks and the willingness to be coached is not.
Exercise
What it measures
The line that matters most
Cold call role-play (10 min)
Opener, listening, objection handling, asking for the meeting
Whether the second run changed after coaching
Written email test (15 min)
Relevance, brevity, one clear ask, accuracy
Whether the message is about the prospect or the product
Follow-up email (part of the test)
Persistence and range
Whether it adds a new angle or repeats the first
Send the email test to every applicant before any live interview. It is the cheapest filter you have at volume, it tests the skill the job uses most, and the results separate candidates far more sharply than a phone screen does. Give everyone the same target account so the comparison holds.
Inbound and Outbound Need Different Questions
An SDR cold-calling from a self-built list and an SDR working inbound demo requests are different jobs that fail in different ways. Outbound fails on rejection tolerance and list quality; inbound fails on response speed and on booking anything with a pulse. Decide which one you are hiring for before you pick questions.
What you are testing for
Outbound SDR
Inbound SDR
Builds a target list from scratch
Rejection tolerance at high volume
Speed to lead measured in minutes
Disqualifies a warm but bad-fit lead
Multi-touch follow-up cadence
Written handoff to the closer
If the role is both, which it usually is at a small business, ask the core set plus two questions from each of the other two sets rather than all seventeen. Depth beats breadth, and the follow-up probe on a single good question reveals more than a rushed sweep through the whole list.
What a Strong Answer Sounds Like
A question is only useful if you know what you are listening for. Below are the three questions that separate candidates fastest, each with the reason it earns a place in the interview and what a strong and a weak answer actually sound like. The downloadable sets carry the same notes for all 35.
In your own words, what does an SDR actually do all day?
Why ask it: It is the cheapest possible filter. A candidate who thinks the job is closing will be unhappy within a month and gone within three.
Strong answer: Research, outreach across phone, email and social, qualifying replies, and booking meetings for someone else to close. A strong answer names the handoff explicitly and does not pretend the job is glamorous.
Weak answer: Describes negotiating and closing deals, or answers entirely in sales slogans with no daily activity in it.
What makes a lead worth passing on, and what makes one worth pushing back?
Why ask it: Qualification judgment is what protects your closer’s calendar. An SDR who books anything with a pulse creates work instead of pipeline.
Strong answer: A consistent standard the candidate can state out loud, covering need, authority, timing, and fit, plus real comfort with disqualifying. The best answers include a time they turned a meeting down and why.
Weak answer: Would book every lead, or disqualifies on one surface signal like company size without asking anything.
Describe a time you got critical feedback. What changed afterward?
Why ask it: Coachability is the highest-value trait in a junior SDR, because the entire role is a weekly coaching loop between the rep and their manager.
Strong answer: Names the specific feedback, the change made, and what happened next. Even better if they went looking for the feedback themselves rather than waiting for a review.
Weak answer: Cannot recall receiving any, or recounts feedback they disagreed with and quietly ignored.
The most useful follow-up in an SDR interview is some version of what happened next. A strong candidate has a number, an outcome, or an honest miss ready. A weaker one retreats into generalities about attitude and hustle, which is the tell that the specifics were never there.
Fair, Legal, and Structured Interviewing
A good interview is fair, legal, and structured, and those three reinforce each other. Asking the same job-related questions of every candidate keeps you compliant, reduces bias, and produces better hires at the same time. It is the part that generic question lists skip entirely.
Ask about the job, not the person
Federal anti-discrimination law, enforced by the EEOC, prohibits basing a hiring decision on protected characteristics, and questions that probe them create risk even when they are asked as small talk. Avoid age, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, and genetic information. SDR interviews have a specific trap: because most candidates are early in their careers, interviewers drift into graduation years, school stories, and what their parents do, all of which circle age and national origin. Keep every question tied to prospecting, qualification, communication, and coachability. The sets on this page are written to stay on the job. This is general information, not legal advice.
Ask the same core questions of everyone
A structured interview, where every candidate answers the same questions and is scored against the same rubric, predicts on-the-job performance better than a free-flowing conversation, and it reduces the chance that a decision rests on rapport rather than evidence. This matters more for an SDR opening than for most roles, because the applicant pool is large, the candidates are early-career, and there is little track record to separate them. Without a fixed question set you end up comparing how much you enjoyed each conversation. Write the questions first, ask them consistently, and score them the same day.
Give every candidate the same exercise brief
The cold call role-play and the email test only produce comparable evidence if the brief is identical. Use the same persona, the same target account, and the same time limit for everyone, and tell candidates in advance that an exercise is part of the process so nobody is ambushed. Score the exercise on the printed lines rather than from memory. If you coach mid-role-play, coach every candidate at the same point with the same kind of feedback, because the second run is the comparison that actually matters.
Interview for your motion, not a generic SDR
An SDR cold-calling from a self-built list and an SDR working inbound demo requests are different jobs with different failure modes. Decide which one you are hiring for before you write the questions, then weight the matching set. A small business hiring its first prospecting rep should also be blunt about the first 90 days: how many accounts, what counts as a qualified meeting, and who takes the handoff. Interview for exactly that, rather than for an enterprise sales development team you do not have.
Same Questions, Same Brief, Same Rubric
Federal law prohibits basing hiring decisions on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), national origin, age 40 or older, disability, or genetic information, and the rules reach pre-employment inquiries as well as final decisions. Running the same core questions, the same exercise brief, and the same rubric for every candidate is both the fairer approach and the one that produces comparable evidence.
Keep the questions on the job, and watch the small talk. Because SDR candidates are usually early-career, casual questions about graduation years, campus life, or family drift toward age and national origin faster than they do in other interviews. Illegal interview questions are rarely asked on purpose. This is general information, not legal advice.
SDR Pay and How It Comes Up in the Interview
SDR pay is quoted as a base salary plus a variable component, described together as on-target earnings, which is what the rep makes at full quota. Market data puts the median base near $60,000 and median on-target earnings near $85,000, with a split commonly around 60 to 70 percent base. Candidates expect both numbers, so have them ready.
Federal wage data does not isolate this role. The nearest classification, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, mixes desk-based prospecting with experienced field selling, so it works as a ceiling reference rather than a benchmark for a prospecting-only job.
Adjacent Federal Wage Data (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
There is no federal occupation code for the SDR role. The closest classification, sales representatives of wholesale and manufacturing products except technical and scientific products, reported a median annual wage of $72,080, about $34.65 an hour, with the lowest 10 percent under $39,090 and the highest 10 percent above $137,550, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Those figures include incentive pay, and the occupation covers experienced closers as well as prospecting roles, so treat it as context rather than a target.
Two things matter beyond the number. First, classification: the outside sales exemption covers employees whose primary duty is selling away from the employer's place of business, and the Department of Labor is explicit that sales made by mail, telephone, or the internet do not qualify unless they are an adjunct to personal visits. A desk-based prospecting rep therefore sits outside it, so treat the role as overtime-eligible unless another exemption clearly applies.
Second, the plan itself. Ask the candidate directly how they feel about variable pay, because a mismatch surfaced in the interview is far cheaper than one surfaced in week three. Then put the terms in writing before the start date: what the variable is earned on, how it is measured, and when it pays. Our guide to commission pay covers how those amounts factor into overtime for a non-exempt rep.
Interviewing an SDR Without HR
A company with a sales development function screens SDRs through a recruiter, a coordinator, and a manager who does this every week. A small business has the founder, an inbox full of near-identical resumes, and one shot at getting it right. That reality should change how you run the process, not just how you feel about it.
You are hiring your first prospecting rep and you have no sales team to compare them to
At a company with a sales development function, a new SDR is measured against a bench of peers and coached by a manager who does this all day. At a small business the first SDR has no peer group, and the founder who hires them is often the only person who has ever done the outreach. That changes the interview: you are not looking for someone who fits an existing team, you are looking for someone who can build the motion with you and take correction while doing it. Weight the resilience and coachability set as heavily as the tactical one, and run both live exercises, because the coaching round tells you more about the next twelve months than any answer will.
The applicant pool is large and mostly early-career
SDR openings draw far more applicants than most small business roles, and the resumes look nearly identical because the candidates are early in their careers. Reading them harder does not help. What helps is a fixed screen: the same core questions for everyone, a short written email test that can be sent before any live interview, and a rubric filled in the same day. The email test is the highest-leverage filter in the whole process, because it is cheap to run at volume, it tests the skill the job uses most, and the results separate candidates far more sharply than a phone screen does.
The interview is the easy part; the comp plan and the ramp are where it breaks
SDR pay is usually a base plus a variable component, so the offer stage carries more moving parts than a salaried role: what the variable is earned on, how it is measured, when it pays, and how overtime interacts with commission if the role is non-exempt. Settle all of that in writing before the start date, then give the new rep a structured first 90 days rather than a login and a list. FirstHR fits the people side of that: send the offer for e-signature, run the new hire paperwork, build the ramp as an onboarding workflow with training modules, and keep the signed documents on the employee profile. To be clear on scope, FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a CRM, a sales engagement tool, or a payroll provider, so pair it with those. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
The rest of the hiring paperwork lives in the hiring templates library, and the interview evaluation form works as a general-purpose rubric if you are interviewing for several roles at once. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
From Interview to Ramp
The interview is step one. Once you pick someone, the work shifts to hiring well and ramping fast: a written offer with the comp plan spelled out, the new hire paperwork, and a structured first 90 days. An SDR who gets a login and a list on day one takes months longer to produce than one who gets real sales onboarding.
Screen with the email test
Send the same written brief to every applicant before any live interview. It is cheap at volume and it tests the skill the job uses most.
Interview and role-play
Ask the core set plus the set that matches your motion, then run the cold call role-play with a coaching round in the middle.
Offer with the comp plan in writing
Confirm base, variable, how the variable is earned, and the start date in writing, with e-signature for a clean record.
Ramp over the first 90 days
Give the new rep product training, a list, a cadence, and weekly coaching, rather than a login and a target on day one.
FirstHR connects the offer, e-signature, new hire paperwork, training modules, and the onboarding workflow in one place, and keeps the signed documents and interview records on the employee profile, so a small business can run hiring through to a ramped rep from one system. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a CRM, a sales engagement tool, or a payroll provider, so connect those separately. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
Assess an SDR on prospecting discipline, qualification judgment, communication, resilience, and coachability, not on closing skill.
Most candidates are early-career, so hire for potential: run a cold call role-play with a coaching round and score whether the second attempt changed.
Send the same written email test to every applicant before any live interview; it is the cheapest high-signal filter at volume.
Inbound and outbound fail differently, so decide the motion first and weight the matching question set.
Keep every question job-related and the small talk off graduation years and family, then score all candidates on one rubric.
Quote base and on-target earnings together, and treat a desk-based prospecting rep as overtime-eligible unless an exemption clearly applies.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should I ask a sales development representative?
Ask questions that test five things: whether the candidate understands that the job is prospecting rather than closing, how they structure a self-directed day, how they qualify and disqualify a lead, how they write and speak to a stranger, and how they handle rejection and feedback. Strong openers include asking them to describe what an SDR does all day in their own words, walking through how they research an account before reaching out, explaining what makes a lead worth turning down, and describing the last piece of critical feedback they received and what changed after it. Ask what numbers they were measured on most recently and how they did, because comfort with a scoreboard is the job. Every question on this page comes with the reason it is worth asking and what a strong answer sounds like.
How do you interview an SDR with no sales experience?
Interview for potential rather than track record, because most SDR candidates are early in their careers and there is no meaningful sales history to evaluate. Focus on three signals. First, tolerance for repetition: ask about the most repetitive job they have held and what system they used to stay consistent. Second, response to rejection: ask about the last time someone told them no and what they did next. Third, and most predictive, coachability: ask for a specific piece of critical feedback and what changed afterward. Then run a live cold call role-play with a coaching round built into the middle, and score whether the second attempt actually changed. A candidate who takes two minutes of feedback and visibly improves will keep improving every week they work for you.
How do you test an SDR in an interview?
Use two short exercises rather than relying on answers alone. The first is a ten-minute cold call role-play: you play a busy prospect, the candidate has to open the call and ask for a meeting, and after about five minutes you stop, coach for two minutes, and run it again. The second run is the point, because it measures coachability directly. The second exercise is a written email test: give every candidate the same real target account and a named contact, and ask for a first cold email under 120 words plus the follow-up they would send four days later. This matters because an SDR writes far more messages than they speak. Use the same brief and the same scoring lines for every candidate, and tell them in advance that exercises are part of the process.
What is the difference between an SDR and a BDR?
The titles overlap heavily and many companies use them interchangeably, so the distinction only matters if you define it internally. Where companies do separate them, the sales development representative usually works inbound and marketing-sourced leads, qualifying people who have already raised a hand, while the business development representative usually works outbound, building a list and prospecting cold into accounts that have never heard of you. Both hand qualified meetings to a closer rather than closing themselves. The practical implication for hiring is that the two jobs fail differently: inbound rewards speed to lead and disciplined disqualification, outbound rewards list building, cadence, and rejection tolerance. Decide which motion you are hiring for, say so plainly in the posting, and weight the matching question set. The title itself matters far less than the scope you write down.
What questions are illegal to ask in an SDR interview?
Avoid any question that probes a characteristic protected under federal law, which the EEOC enforces: age, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, and genetic information. SDR interviews carry a specific risk because most candidates are early in their careers, and interviewers slide easily into graduation years, campus stories, and questions about family, all of which circle age and national origin. You may ask whether someone can perform the essential functions of the job and whether they are legally authorized to work in the United States. Keep every question tied to prospecting, qualification, communication, and coachability, and ask the same core set of every candidate, which is the simplest way to be both fair and consistent. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much should I pay a sales development representative?
SDR pay is normally quoted as a base salary plus a variable component, described together as on-target earnings, which is what the rep makes at full quota. Market data puts the median base around $60,000 and the median on-target earnings around $85,000, with a split commonly near 60 to 70 percent base. Federal wage data does not isolate the SDR role; the closest occupation, sales representatives of wholesale and manufacturing products except technical and scientific products, reported a median annual wage of $72,080 in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, and those figures include commissions. Treat that as adjacent context rather than a target. Quote both the base and the on-target earnings in the posting, include a range where your state requires it, and settle how the variable is earned before the start date.
Is a sales development representative exempt from overtime?
Usually not. The outside sales exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to employees whose primary duty is making sales away from the employer’s place of business, and the Department of Labor states plainly that sales made by mail, telephone, or the internet do not count unless that contact is merely an adjunct to personal visits. An SDR who prospects by phone and email from a desk therefore falls outside that exemption, so the role should generally be treated as overtime-eligible unless a different exemption clearly applies to the specific job. This has a practical consequence at offer time: when a non-exempt employee earns commissions or non-discretionary bonuses, those amounts normally have to be included when calculating the regular rate for overtime. Confirm the classification for your own facts with qualified counsel. This is general information, not legal advice.
How long should the SDR hiring process take?
Keep it short, because strong SDR candidates are usually interviewing in several places at once and a slow process loses them. A practical shape for a small business is three touchpoints over about two weeks: a written email test sent to every applicant, a 45-minute structured interview using the core set plus the set that matches your motion, and a final round built around the cold call role-play with whoever the rep will hand meetings to. Score each stage on the rubric the same day rather than saving it for the end. Applicant volume for SDR openings is high, so the screen has to be cheap to run and the later stages have to be scheduled quickly. If your process regularly runs past three weeks, you are mostly selecting for whoever has not been hired elsewhere yet.
