{"id":2625,"date":"2015-07-17T01:31:12","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T05:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/?post_type=article&p=2625"},"modified":"2025-07-14T21:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T21:39:24","slug":"candidate-samples","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While you\u2019ll never be able to eliminate hiring mistakes altogether, you can dramatically improve your hiring decisions by having candidates simulate activities similar to what they\u2019d be doing on the job before<\/em> you hire them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what exactly should this look like? What\u2019s reasonable to ask for? How much is too much? And how can you explain what you\u2019re doing so that candidates are enthusiastic about the process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are four guidelines for asking candidates for work samples, exercises, or simulations. (And you can find ideas for specific exercises here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Pay attention to how you frame the request.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t want to sound cavalier about the person’s time, since that can drive away good candidates. Instead, explain what you\u2019re doing and why, and acknowledge that you\u2019re asking them to invest time in you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Sample language: \u201cBecause we’ve had a tremendous response to our posting, we’re asking the most promising candidates to complete a brief exercise relevant to the work of this position before we interview people directly. We realize this requires an investment of your time and we appreciate your help in determining if we’re a strong fit for one another.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

2. Be thoughtful about the time commitment you\u2019re asking for.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Asking a promising candidate to spend an hour or two on an exercise is reasonable, but asking them to spend a day on a project (uncompensated) is not. You should also factor in how much time you have invested in the candidate; the less time you\u2019ve invested, the less time candidates are likely going to want to invest themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re committed to running an equitable process, be explicit about how much time you expect candidates to spend on something. Keep in mind that candidates will often spend more than the suggested amount of time on an assignment, especially those who have multiple marginalized identities and feel more pressure to perform or prove themselves. It\u2019s important to make sure that the scope of the assignment is reasonable for the time limit you\u2019re offering. Be explicit about the degree of completeness you\u2019re looking for, too. For example, in asking for a writing exercise, you might say something like, \u201cI\u2019m sure you\u2019re busy, so we\u2019re not looking for more than a few paragraphs. Think of this as a first\u2014not final\u2014draft. We\u2019re just hoping to get a sense of your thinking and approach, so please don\u2019t spend more than an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Consider asking for existing work samples.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you want to see people in action without asking too much of them, consider asking for samples of work they\u2019ve already done. In some positions, this might be obvious, like looking through a graphic designer\u2019s portfolio or asking for writing samples. But you can also ask for things like presentations or emails that a candidate produced in the course of doing their job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Sample language: \u201cWe\u2019ve found that it\u2019s helpful to look at actual work samples to get a sense of how people operate. Do you have a work product you could share that might help to give us that sense? It could be a particularly substantive memo, an email you sent to your team, a proposal, or anything you\u2019ve created that would give us a sense of your work. It doesn\u2019t even need to be directly relevant to the X role you\u2019re applying for; we\u2019re just interested in getting a better sense of how you think and operate. We’ll keep anything that you share with us confidential. Please feel free to remove names or other details you’re not comfortable sharing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You might combine this with exercises created specifically for your hiring process, but for many roles\u2014especially senior ones\u2014this can be a helpful supplement or initial screen that’s not time-intensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Be ethical when asking for work.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For both legal and ethical reasons, be careful not to ask candidates to do unpaid work from which you, the employer, will derive the preponderance of the benefit. Use their work for assessment purposes only. For example, it\u2019s fine to ask candidates to write a sample press release about a fictitious or past event, but don’t ask them to write one that you might actually send out unless you will pay them for the work. We recommend that if the assignment will take more than two hours, you should compensate the candidate for their time. If you think seeing more involved work would help you make a better decision, don\u2019t be afraid to make it a paid freelance project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Check out these four guidelines for asking candidates for work samples, exercises, and simulations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":10397,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"resource_types":[48],"topic":[40],"collection":[],"class_list":["post-2625","resources","type-resources","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_types-article-publication","topic-hiring"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples - The Management Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples - The Management Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Check out these four guidelines for asking candidates for work samples, exercises, and simulations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Management Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-management-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-14T21:39:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@managementctr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Management Center\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b39997ba6729b4aa67d429c2e2351395\"},\"headline\":\"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-17T05:31:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-14T21:39:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/\"},\"wordCount\":790,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/\",\"name\":\"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples - The Management Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-17T05:31:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-14T21:39:24+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg\",\"caption\":\"Article icon of an open publication.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/\",\"name\":\"The Management Center\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Management Center\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TMC_logo_primary.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TMC_logo_primary.svg\",\"width\":325,\"height\":40,\"caption\":\"The Management Center\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-management-center\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/managementctr\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/themanagementcenter\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b39997ba6729b4aa67d429c2e2351395\",\"name\":\"The Management Center\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/606b7b79ce9cf02e9833bc50facfde30e91717cff8d97c1c41693354f10f4507?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/606b7b79ce9cf02e9833bc50facfde30e91717cff8d97c1c41693354f10f4507?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Management Center\"},\"description\":\"The Management Center is a 501c3 organization that helps leaders working for social change build equitable, sustainable, and results-driven organizations via trainings coaching, and online resources and tools.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/themanagementcenter\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-management-center\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/author\/tmc_staff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples - The Management Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples - The Management Center","og_description":"Check out these four guidelines for asking candidates for work samples, exercises, and simulations.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/","og_site_name":"The Management Center","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-management-center\/","article_modified_time":"2025-07-14T21:39:24+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@managementctr","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/"},"author":{"name":"The Management Center","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b39997ba6729b4aa67d429c2e2351395"},"headline":"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples","datePublished":"2015-07-17T05:31:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-14T21:39:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/"},"wordCount":790,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/","url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/","name":"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples - The Management Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg","datePublished":"2015-07-17T05:31:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-14T21:39:24+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/not-indexed\/2022\/TMC-Resource-Types-05_article.svg","caption":"Article icon of an open publication."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/candidate-samples\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Resources","item":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to Ask Job Candidates for Work Samples"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/","name":"The Management Center","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#organization","name":"The Management Center","url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TMC_logo_primary.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TMC_logo_primary.svg","width":325,"height":40,"caption":"The Management Center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-management-center\/","https:\/\/x.com\/managementctr","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/themanagementcenter\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/b39997ba6729b4aa67d429c2e2351395","name":"The Management Center","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/606b7b79ce9cf02e9833bc50facfde30e91717cff8d97c1c41693354f10f4507?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/606b7b79ce9cf02e9833bc50facfde30e91717cff8d97c1c41693354f10f4507?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Management Center"},"description":"The Management Center is a 501c3 organization that helps leaders working for social change build equitable, sustainable, and results-driven organizations via trainings coaching, and online resources and tools.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/themanagementcenter\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/the-management-center\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/author\/tmc_staff\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/2625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resources"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resources\/2625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"resource_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_types?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2625"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.managementcenter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=2625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}