Beyond the Resume: How Human Expertise Drives SDR Hiring Success

In an age where AI-powered resume screening and automated assessments dominate recruiting conversations, IQTalent's Alison Raeside makes a compelling case for the irreplaceable value of human expertise in sales talent acquisition.

The Limitations of Resume-Based Hiring

"You can speak to a candidate who's amazing on paper – they have a sales internship, they're an athlete – and they just fall flat when you get them on the phone," explains Raeside, who has overseen the successful placement of 76 SDRs for a Fortune 500 technology client over three years.

Conversely, she notes, "You can talk to someone who has no experience whatsoever in sales, and they come with energy, they've researched the company, they're excited to be there – and I'll pass them along."

This reality creates a fundamental challenge: the qualities that make for exceptional SDRs – coachability, enthusiasm, hunger, and interpersonal skills – rarely reveal themselves on a resume.

Why Human Judgment Remains Essential

While technology can efficiently filter candidates based on keywords or experience parameters, it falls short in assessing the nuanced human elements that determine SDR success:

Reading Between the Lines

Raeside describes how human expertise allows her to identify potential in unexpected places:

"I had a candidate who, on paper, you wouldn't think was a fit for the SDR program. He didn't have an athletic background, came from a totally different industry. During the interview, I was waffling on him a little bit."

What technology would have missed – and what Raeside caught – was a critical moment of coachability:

"He asked for feedback. I told him they're really going to want to see a lot more excitement, and you're going to have to link your background and how it would serve you in sales. He was extremely receptive, prepared so well for his interviews, and ended up getting hired on sheer preparation and eagerness."

Calibration Through Experience

The value of human expertise compounds over time. As Raeside explains:

"I've seen candidates get promoted through the ranks, and I've also seen which candidates aren't a fit and let go. So I'm armed with a ton of knowledge of what works and what doesn't."

This experiential wisdom creates a feedback loop that improves hiring accuracy: "I think it gets a little more calibrated each hiring event. We used to have a lot of misses at the beginning. Now we don't have many hard nos."

Reading Subtle Signals

Experienced recruiters like Raeside can detect subtle signals that algorithms miss:

"When someone says, 'Do you have any feedback for me?' and has a lot of questions for me, they generally do better in the interview."

These behavioral indicators – curiosity, receptiveness to feedback, engagement – are powerful predictors that technology can't easily quantify.

The Innovative Human Touch at Scale

What makes Raeside's approach particularly noteworthy is how she's scaled human judgment through an innovative group interview format:

"We have a group interview – it's three hours. We have 20 to 40 SDR candidates join us all on Zoom. We have breakout room challenges, like a cold call exercise. And then we have three current SDRs join us for 45 minutes, and candidates have at it. They can just ask them whatever they want to know."

This format allows for:

• Direct observation of candidates in simulated sales environments
• Authentic peer-to-peer interactions that reveal true personality
• Efficient assessment of soft skills at scale
• Meaningful candidate experience that reflects the company culture

Building Long-Term Understanding

Perhaps most significantly, the human element in recruiting creates a deeper understanding between the hiring company and recruiting partner:

"I think they've also been honing exactly what their ideal profile looks like over the past couple of years. So I think it's been refinement on both our ends, and we've kind of gone through it together."

This collaborative evolution – something an automated system would struggle to achieve – has created exceptional results for the client.

The Future of Sales Recruitment

As technology continues to transform recruiting, Raeside's experience suggests a balanced approach is optimal:

1. Use technology to handle volume efficiently – SDR hiring requires talking to many candidates
2. Preserve human judgment for character assessment – Attitude, coachability, and potential are best evaluated person-to-person
3. Create opportunities for authentic interaction – Group formats, simulations, and peer conversations reveal true capabilities
4. Value continuous learning and feedback loops – Human recruiters get better over time with proper feedback
5. Focus on the candidate experience – The human touch in recruiting reflects company culture and values

In an increasingly digital recruitment landscape, IQTalent's success reminds us that identifying great sales talent remains fundamentally human work – requiring judgment, intuition, and wisdom that technology alone cannot provide. View the full case study here and then reach out to see how IQTalent can help you!