You’re all geared up to expand your RevOps team. You’ve tons of resumes from potential hires piled up in your inbox.
All you’ve to do is…pick the right candidate.
Easy, right?
We get it. It’s going to be an uphill task to choose the right person you’re looking for. But don’t worry. There has to be a way out.
Having the correct set of questions to ask in an interview can make the difference here. You don’t have to rush through the selection process and choose someone only with the basic set of information you get. Go beyond it to hire the one who perfectly fits the bill.
How to Ask the Right Questions?
We spoke to Bhushan Goel, a RevOps veteran, to understand what kind of questions to ask when hiring for RevOps. Here are some excerpts from the conversation:
You’ve to evaluate the candidate based on three different criteria:
- Technical knowledge
- Experience
- Problem-solving ability.
You don’t necessarily have to give equal importance to all these three factors. Decide it based on:
- Who’s being interviewed
- What kind of role they’re being hired for.
For example, if you’re interviewing an analyst, your questions can be more focused on testing their technical knowledge, proficiency with different tools, the kind of problems they’ve solved in their previous organization, and a bit about the projects they’ve worked on.
When hiring for a senior role, the questions can be around the process they've developed before, how the process structure would look like, and the reports they’ve proposed to leadership.
When you want to test their problem-solving skills, you can use numerical case studies. The idea here isn’t to see whether they have the right solution, but to find out how they break down a problem, whether they are making reasonable assumptions, and how good their investigative ability is.
When interviewing someone from a non-SaaS background, have an idea of the skills which can be translated to SaaS business, and what can be taught on the job, and fix your questions based on that.
RevOps Interview Questions
1. Which sales tech stack tools have you worked on before? How hands-on are you with those tools?
This question helps you understand the technical skills of the individual, and also gives you an idea of how well they fit the position you’re looking for. You can also ask them to elaborate on any problem that they’ve solved using technology, and how they stay on top of tech trends.
2. Tell us about your investigative process.
This is a fundamental RevOps skill that your potential hire needs to have. Look for how well they can ask the right questions to create an insightful narrative despite having very minimal information to begin with, and what they propose to do as the possible next steps.
3. What will be your approach to a reporting and business intelligence problem?
Instead of having a reactive approach to finding a solution, the right candidate should be able to:
1. Get clarity about the problem
2. Identify the ideal solution and what concessions if any need to be made for the current problem.
3. Figure out how to proceed further with their findings"
When you're hiring your first RevOps person in-house, you'll want to ask them what exposure they've had to senior leadership teams because you'll want someone who really understands and owns the strategic data requirements of the business. Not just someone who knows how to be a tech stack administrator.
4. How do you manage your workload?
At any point in time, your RevOps person will have more than one task to take care of. Get to know how good their project management abilities are, and their knowledge about various project management tools as well. Also, they shouldn’t shy away from asking questions and prioritizing their work based on the overall goal of the company. And they should be able to handle multiple stakeholders at the same time.
5. According to you, what kind of tasks would require more planning?
There are going to be vital tasks that would require a little more attention than the rest. See how your candidate views long-term projects, how well they can break them down, and ensure there’s continuous progress.
6. You’re asked to create a report. How would you go about it?
RevOps would have a long list of reports to create all the time. Before creating any report, the RevOps person should know why the report is needed in the first place, and what problem the end-user is trying to solve. They shouldn’t jump into creating reports without asking questions at all.
The first thing I’ll look for in a RevOps hire is their ability to intimately understand why customers buy the solution, and what problems are we solving for them. I’d prioritise someone who has carried a quota, marketed to the customer, or has worked on the customer side. The reason is customer-centricity, and the need to make decisions with the underlying understanding of the business.
7. How would you plan to maintain the current solution and prepare for future changes that could happen a few months from now?
Your candidate should know the importance of documentation and how an SSOT can help navigate change confidently and avoid downstream impacts.
8. What’s your impact analysis process on the changes you are about to make?
See if your candidate is experienced in using Change Management platforms, and how it has helped them evaluate the impact of their changes. If they haven’t used such tools, they can deep dive into other methods to manage change successfully. They can also talk about the necessity of documentation here, and how it helps to keep track of all the changes.
9. You’ve made a mistake that should’ve been avoided. How would you handle it?
Mistakes happen. But how well your RevOps person handles it makes all the difference. They should be able to own it up instead of brushing it aside, and make an analysis of the impact of their mistakes. Ideally, the candidate should also figure out the corrective action, and the time it’d take to do the changes.
Your RevOps leader should display competence in 3 areas:
Data Native: Do they understand relational databases and are they able to visualize data structure?
Clarity Creator: Can they communicate complex situations in simple, easy to understand sentences? Do they lead meetings by drawing out processes and taking clear notes?
Creates Forward Momentum: Do they drive decisions, challenge people, and make confident recommendations?
10. How would you tackle people with different communication styles?
Your salespeople would be outspoken in their communication, whereas people from other departments may communicate differently. Your ideal RevOps person should be able to interact with all these personalities across the organization. Knowing how to interact with all types of people and getting the job done is important to succeed in the role.
Final Thoughts
Now, you would have got a fair idea of how to go about hiring for a RevOps role. The thought of not finding an apt RevOps person can weigh you down. However, having the appropriate questions can be a great starting point for you to filter out the candidates. Make sure you take the time you need, trust your gut, and give yourself the best chance in finding the right person for the role. Certainly, the ideal candidate can make a world of difference to the position, and to your organization!
