guess or assess

In partnership with

open role: mid market account executive (x10)

• series d w/ $400M in funding, $200M in revenue

• targeting $350M by end of year

• hiring 10 reps in nyc, 5 in sf

• 2-5 years of closing

• smb: $200k

• mm: $260k

interested? apply here

active candidate: vp of sales

• early at zoom-info, helped them scale from $20M to post-ipo

• 15 years in tech, 7+ in leadership roles

• north east based but wanting remote

• $450k ote is middle of their range

want to chat with them? email me

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my 2 cents: guess or assess

i’ve spent over a decade hiring gtm talent for early stage startups and every few years i have a client come around that wants to add some form of an assessment into their interview process.

personality tests, aptitude tests, sales assessments, and the list goes on

the data is light, the research is meh and the best sales orgs in the world? don’t use them. so why do we do them and where do they come from? most of the time, it’s when a sales team targets a niche industry that has the assessment as common practice.

healthcare, legal, finance, accounting, etc.

the purpose? to weed out the bad hires, and validate/find great hires.

the reality? they’re no more predictive than not using them at all

so my 2 cents?

hiring managers:

i’ve worked with dozens of teams and placed hundreds of candidates. if your hiring is built around pattern recognition, myers briggs results or wanting to hire a 7 wing 8 (my wife says that’s “totally me”), you’re hiring based on theory, not fact.

what your real predictors are?

• quota attainment

• rank among peers

• revenue generated

• ability to build pipeline

• self-sourcing capacity

• key stories of big wins

• $ # %

if you’re passing on a top rep because of an assessment, then you’re leaving the hard work of hiring up to an assessment and not your own critical thinking.

candidates:

i think you can guess where i stand in this whole conversation but my advice to you is simple: just go with it.

this stuff sucks, it’s frankly a bit old school and it’s certainly not something candidates enjoy. but if you can hang on for that 30 minutes and just put some thoughtful effort into it, you’ll likely be just fine and be on your merry way.

and if you fail?

accept it? complain? push back?

if you’re not sold on the product/role, let it be and move on.

but if you’re stoked on the product and bought into the opp, you should absolutely push back on the decision.

don’t ask for another chance to take the test. don’t undermine the results. don’t even really worry about that whole stage.

focus on why you’re a great fit, using data from prior roles, and sell them on why you should be moved to the next round. reference the other steps that you nailed. highlight things they’re sold on about you.

your most valuable trait in these situations isn’t your opinion, it’s your experience and skill set. use them and use them well.

TLDR:

if you’re hiring - use data and your own critical thinking to make your hiring decisions, not someone else’s psychological framework put into a 30 minute assessment.

if you’re interviewing - just take the damn test and worry about the rest later.

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