Video screening for sales candidates

Write the screen for the sales job you actually have

An SDR, an account executive and an account manager solve different problems. For an SDR, ask about opening a relevant conversation and deciding whether to pass an opportunity on. For an account executive, ask about discovery, buying decisions and a deal that stalled.

Describe the customer and the product enough for an outside applicant to reason about them. Do not expect them to know your internal qualification language.

Prompts that give you a follow-up worth asking

• A prospect says they are interested but cannot name who will approve the purchase. What would you ask next?
• Describe a deal you chose to stop pursuing. What information changed your view?
• Write a short follow-up after a discovery call where the buyer raised a concern you could not answer.
• Tell us about a forecast you got wrong. What did you change in your process?

Ask applicants to anonymise customers and commercial details. Tell them whether you want an example from paid work, volunteering or another relevant setting.

Review the reasoning behind the answer

Look for the information the candidate seeks, how they distinguish interest from a buying process and whether their proposed next step follows from the evidence. Keep charisma separate from those criteria.

Use a live role-play later to explore how the person listens and adapts when new information arrives. A recorded answer cannot show that interaction by itself.

Keep a human owner for every decision

Ratings and notes help your team compare answers. Transcripts and AI-generated observations can support that review when enabled, but they need checking against the original response. Agree on who decides and when candidates will hear back.

After the first round, compare total screening and review time with your previous process. If the screen moves work to the hiring manager without helping the next interview, change the questions before sending more invitations.