Apptio inside sales and the CCAT

Apptio and the CCAT at a glance

Where the CCAT sits in Apptio's hiring process

1. 1

   Application

   Through the careers site. Since the acquisition, Apptio roles may be posted on IBM's careers site.

2. 2

   Assessment invite

   In a typical Criteria flow, an email links to an unproctored online test on Criteria's platform. If the invite comes from IBM instead, it may be a different assessment entirely.

3. 3

   CCAT and a possible sales or personality questionnaire

   The CCAT is 50 questions in 15 minutes. Criteria also sells sales-specific and personality questionnaires that employers sometimes add.

4. 4

   Sales interviews

   Typically a recruiter call, a hiring-manager interview and sometimes a mock call.

Steps are as candidates describe them. Processes change by role and over time.

Can your pace reach Apptio's target?

The numbers below use our estimate for Apptio: a range of 22 to 25 out of 50 with a target of 24. Nothing is saved. If you ask Clever below, it sees your numbers.

About Apptio

Apptio makes software that helps companies track and plan what they spend on technology, from IT budgets to cloud bills.

Apptio was a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company before IBM acquired it, which is likely why prep sites list it with other Vista companies. Our Vista Equity Partners page summarizes those reports. Hiring under IBM may follow IBM's own process, so the CCAT reports may describe an earlier period.

Verbal speed is the inside sales edge

Inside sales is a reading and talking job: emails, call notes, objections, follow-ups. The CCAT's verbal items, such as sentence completion, analogies and synonyms, measure something close to that: how fast you pull meaning from a few words.

Most sales candidates are not short on vocabulary. They are short on speed. They read every option slowly and second-guess the obvious choice. On a 15-minute test, a verbal item should take 10 to 15 seconds, which leaves time for the math and spatial items that take longer.

• Sentence completion: read the whole sentence, predict the word, then find its closest match.
• Analogies: name the relationship (tool to user, part to whole) before looking at the options.
• Synonyms: if two options mean the same thing as each other, neither is likely the answer.

Do not let the math eat your clock

A sales candidate's score usually falls apart on a few long word problems, not on the verbal section. One stuck work-rate problem can cost a minute, which is three or four verbal answers you never reach.

Set a personal rule before you start: if a math question has not clicked within 20 seconds, guess and move on. Then use practice to shrink the list of question types that need that rule.

Question types to drill first

• Sentence completionClose to the reading speed inside sales needs, and quick to improve with practice.Verbal questions with worked examples
• AnalogiesRewards naming a relationship fast, the same skill as framing a customer's problem.Verbal questions with worked examples
• PercentagesQuota, discount and commission math. The most common math gap for sales candidates.Math questions with worked examples

Roles at Apptio reported to include the CCAT

Tips for the Apptio CCAT

• Do verbal drills against a timer set to 12 seconds per question to build a sales-friendly pace.
• Set a 20-second skip rule for math before test day and practice it until it feels automatic.
• Read sentence completions aloud in your head the way you would read a script: the right word usually sounds right.
• If the invite comes from IBM rather than Criteria, ask the recruiter what the assessment is before you prepare for the CCAT.
• Take the test at a desk with a mouse if you can; clicking quickly through verbal items matters.

Practice questions in the same formats

These are our own practice questions, written in the CCAT's formats. Apptio does not publish its test questions, and neither does Criteria. For a full timed run, take the free CCAT practice test.

How we estimate

Apptio does not publish a CCAT score, so the numbers on this page are our estimate. We start from Criteria's published job-family floors for the roles candidates report, then place them against Criteria's two norm groups, where the median raw score is 24. We adjust for how competitive the applicant pool is, and we use an employer's own published baseline whenever one exists.

Percentiles come from a normal model on Criteria's published median and standard deviations, shown as a range across both groups. See the CCAT percentile chart for the method and what a good CCAT score is for the published job-family floors.

Clever Cat Prep is not affiliated with Apptio or Criteria Corp. Apptio is a trademark of its owner.