SpicySpitter

SDR Overseer

Is hiring this hard??

what up savages. so I am a first time manager and 1 month in - already thrown into the fire and looking to hire for an outbound sdr.

we're working with a recruiter and recently had a candidate do good on the initial interviews - impressed me and my team lead, but VP was so so on them.

I did a role play with them and they fell on their face to put it lightly. scheduled another one with my team lead for a second opinion and again very underwhelming (he has previous sdr experience I should add)

all that to say- how the F do you hire?!? what advice can you give a newbie? this feels a bit like dating, they seem good at first then later you find out they're crazy. 😂

so savages - how do you find other savages?

👥 Hiring

🗣 Interviewing

👨‍🌾 SDR

33 comments

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MCP

Valued Contributor

Sales Director

It takes smoke, mirrors & a shit ton of luck. Hiring is the single hardest thing to get right.
Hire more for will than skill. Look for things you can’t teach like attitude, aptitude & coachability. So long as they can learn the ropes & want to, they may be worth a shot, especially at SDR which is generally entry level.

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

I agree. Although I am not a hiring manager, I am very often involved in the interview process.

I prefer to focus on character and 'will.' Particularly for an 'entry level' position like an SDR, you're looking for someone you want to take in as an apprentice. It's going to be very hard to find someone that comes out of the box with everything you want, and they will either be expensive, looking for the next thing in 6 months, or have some other weird trait that will rear it's head (i.e. why are they not an AE yet?).

I like to ask questions like 'tell me your story' and 'why did you choose to apply for this particular role.' Also 'tell me about your biggest win, and biggest loss. How did those go down?'

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

Agreed to everything you said!!!! My Vp was very adamant about the new sdr having experience but now I’m thinking that might not be the best

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Are you paying at industry/locale rate, or are you willing to pay more for the best talent?

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

We are paying above industry rate actually and will pay even more for experience

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Got it--and are you posting base in your job descriptions? Or including in the first message?

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

Yep since we primarily work with a recruiter they tell the candidate base range and ote before the candidate is even presented to us

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Interesting that it's still getting shitty stuff like this headed your way...maybe work with the recruiter to qualify out more effectively?

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

I am thinking that is what we need to do. I’m also considering looking outside of people with sdr experience and non traditional backgrounds. I’m finding the ones with sdr experience already have those bad habits/beliefs about the sdr role which can make them unsuccessful. Thinking someone just hungry to get into saas sales will be more open and adaptable to coaching and that willingness to try anything

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Folks who have experience in other industries with a track record of success have been, in my experience, more successful than an SDR leaving a current role for a new SDR role.

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

Yes it is incredibly frustrating and even when you think you found the right fit, they ain't it. I've tried recruiters and putting up our own ads, both were wastes of time but less so with the recruiters.

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

Very frustrating it was definitely a hard pill to swallow. I told the recruiter before the role play with the candidate I would offer unless they flopped… then they flopped not once but twice.

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

Sounds like you need a new recruiter. Mine was bad too but its the same group who found me so I had to give them a shot.

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

Same!! This is the recruiter who got me the role I’m in now

LordBusiness

Politicker

Chief Revenue Officer

Already too many cooks in the kitchen for a simple SDR role. We have a single interview flow here, with a set list of interview questions and scoring rubric based key traits we look for in hires. If someone scores X on the interview, we offer. If not, we move on. In order to get to interview, candidate must sent a video(again thats designed to let us see a few key things). You need to eliminate the “I really liked this person” hiring garbage that happens in 90% of orgs

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

I’ve thought about doing this they did it at a company I worked at before and it helped them a lot. Maybe I’ll reach out to see their template and go from there.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

dont be afraid to look out side of Saas (assuming you are in saas)

Especially for SDRs.

I know guys and gals that have comes from insurance, ticket sales, ect that have crushed as SDRs in Saas.

Both ticket sales and insurance have low base and are worked a ton, shouldn't be too hard to get them to consider your gig if its half decent.

nemix

Politicker

SDR

Base in insurance ? I was always 100% commission 😂

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

oh yeah 100% commission when I was in insurance too. I guess I meant more for ticket sales.

although I do have friends in Property and Casualty insurance that have a base. but its like $20K or less.

nemix

Politicker

SDR

God I still have nightmares about waking up to a chargeback

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

hahahah!! omg. yep the PTSD from that industry runs DEEP.

Its crazy what you will find your self doing, when you know you need to sell a policy to pay your mortgage. idk how I lasted 4.5 years....

nemix

Politicker

SDR

Idk either I did it for about the same, and I wish I would have started in SAAS sooner.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

So glad I have no hand in hiring.

Confidence trumps competence in most situations and it reflects poorly on the managers when the lack of latter finally shows.

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

Hiring is slowly becoming my worst nightmare. At first it was like, oh this is fun getting to be on the other side of things. Now it's like, holy shit did these candidates even look up the company before coming to the interview.

I know everyone is saying it's a candidates market right now so I do think that has an impact on the people that apply to the jobs. So my biggest advice is to take your time & wait for the right person to come along (much like dating lol). We made the mistake of hiring someone just to hire them & we're still paying for it.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I see nothing about the comp you're offering people?

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

Base range 60-70k OTE 20k and fully remote

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

That’s reasonable. Maybe you should try to get somebody with hustle but doesn’t have the experience. Non-traditional backgrounds including hospitality or even folks like bartenders/valets could be strong fits.

Epad

Executive

Snr Business Development Executive

In sales I find there is so much that you can train and mold from a new and enthusiastic rep. Figure out if they have the right attributes of confidence, teachability, drive etc, in the interviews. Then assess do you have the abilities and resources to train them on everything else.

SpicySpitter

Opinionated

SDR Overseer

I agree I am just not sure we have the resources yet to really train up someone totally new (I’m new and starting from scratch on the onboarding plans for sdrs) there wasn’t one in place really before I got here.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

A role play for an SDR role is something I am wary of. For an AE role being able to run a discovery call is one thing but SDR no experience or bad experience they’re going to fall flat on their face. For an SDR role, do they have any fear of meeting new people, are they scared of criticism and are they coachable? If yes to the above they can learn the ropes of what is needed to be good for you.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Some people just tank role plays since they are not real.

nemix

Politicker

SDR

I think role plays are a shit indication of selling lol. I can’t role play because it’s awkward and I feel my sell’s ability is mainly instinct being turned on when I smell money.

godpull54

Praised Answer

PDR

Don't be so harsh if they fail the role play part. I personally hated that part it was so unnatural and the added pressure serves no purpose. Look at qualities and track record. Goodluck!

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SpicySpitter

Is hiring this hard??

33 comments

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