Hiring managers occasionally wonder whether a sales candidate’s mood can substantially affect his or her scores on a sales assessment test. These questions can arise when a candidate reports recent frustrations at work or other challenging circumstances and scores low on traits such as Need for Achievement or Optimism. The key here is to remember that we are measuring traits rather than states. A state is a more temporary mood or condition (such as temporary anxiety or sadness). A trait is a stable underlying characteristic or quality (such as Need for Achievement).  So, although it can be appealing to attribute