UpGuard Sales Development Representative Interview Questions
& Process

A month after applying, I was contacted by the recruiter. I then met with the hiring manager, which went well. Following that, I was scheduled to meet with a team member, then their manager, then their boss, and finally their boss's boss. I got as far as meeting the hiring manager and a manager from Denver, who was not friendly and asked me to tell a joke about happy hour for bonus points. This seemed unprofessional. I tried to avoid it by saying I didn't know jokes, but they insisted, saying jokes about happy hour were funny. This made me uncomfortable because I don't drink and find alcoholism humor insensitive. Despite this, I agreed to do a mock meeting. I was told I took too long to book it. This makes me question the meeting quality and work environment, especially given the promotion of drinking culture and dealing with difficult personalities. Despite liking the hiring manager and the location, I declined the offer.

I had an initial video call with the manager, which was super short, like less than 5 minutes. They basically told me to do a take-home assignment to sort out the serious candidates. I jumped on that and finished it quickly. They liked it and set up another video call to discuss the SDR role more and do a live roleplay with the manager and another UpGuard employee. It went pretty well, and they gave me some helpful feedback during the call, which I used to adjust my script right there. They were impressed with how fast I adapted. They seemed really into me and said I'd meet the team the next week. I'd spent a ton of time researching UpGuard, and they even said I did more than most people. They hinted I pretty much had the job, as this was the second-to-last step. I waited for an update to schedule meeting the team, but nothing came. I reached out to my recruiter to see if they could follow up. The next day, the Team Lead called to say they weren't moving forward with my application. They said it was because they didn't think I had a 'dominant personality' to manage a colleague's inconsistent performance. This wasn't mentioned in the interviews at all, and I didn't even know who I'd be 'babysitting' until that call. It felt like a bait-and-switch, especially since my recruiter agreed the manager shouldn't have implied I got the job and then changed their mind. It started off well, but they weren't as transparent as they should have been. It blindsided me, and I wouldn't interview there again.

It began with Luke in TA, who was super enthusiastic and kept me in the loop about everything. He was really helpful with any questions I had, which was nice. Then came the assessment, which I felt was a really good way to get a feel for the SDR role and UpGuard's prospecting approach. After that, there was a role play exercise where you practice setting up a meeting with a prospect. They gave me a chance to do it again after some feedback. The last couple of steps involved meetings with the VP of Sales and the SVP of Sales.