Sales Development Representative Interview Questions: What to Expect and How to Answer
SDR interviews are mostly evaluating resilience and process, not charisma. The candidates who get offers are the ones who can describe a repeatable approach to rejection and outreach, not just say they're "good with people."
Common Interview Questions
Tell me about a time you faced a lot of rejection. How did you keep going?
What they're assessing
Whether you have real resilience or just haven't been tested yet — this is the single most common reason SDR hires don't work out.
How to structure a strong answer
Use a real example, even outside of sales (a job search, a fundraising ask, cold outreach for anything). Describe how many attempts it actually took, what you changed after the early failures, and what kept you going.
What kills it
A story with no real rejection in it, or one where you gave up after the first attempt.
How would you research a company before reaching out to them cold?
What they're assessing
Whether you understand that good outreach requires real prep, not a generic template blasted to everyone.
How to structure a strong answer
Name 2-3 specific things you'd actually look at (recent news, a role they're hiring for that signals a priority, something specific about their product), and how you'd use one of those to make the first line of an email or call genuinely relevant.
What kills it
A generic answer about 'looking at their LinkedIn and website' with no specific detail about what you'd actually do with that information.
Sell me this pen — or something similar in the room.
What they're assessing
Whether you understand selling as identifying a need and connecting it to a benefit, not just reciting features.
How to structure a strong answer
Ask a clarifying question first if you can (what does the interviewer actually need it for), then connect one real feature to that specific need rather than listing every feature the object has.
What kills it
Listing features with no attempt to find out what the person in front of you actually needs first.
What Employers Screen For
Demonstrates real resilience with a specific rejection example, not a hypothetical
Understands outreach requires research, not a generic template
Can think on their feet in a live roleplay-style question
Comfortable with a metrics-driven, high-volume daily workflow
Skill Gaps by Major
Major
Common gap
Business/Communications
Comfortable presenting, less practice with cold outreach or handling repeated direct rejection
Any major, career changers
Transferable resilience exists but often isn't framed in a sales-relevant story yet