Using Work Samples in Recruitment

When you recruit for a position, how do you do it? CV and cover letter? Application form? Interview? TikTok video? There’s one way that offers a solution that is fair and efficient but is often overlooked: work samples.

And that makes sense. Rather than asking for things that are peripheral to the job, like writing a CV or application form, if a part of the work can be recreated, then why not assess how that person does that work and judge them on that? If you wanted to hire a guitarist, wouldn’t you want to hear them play the guitar?

When to use work samples

In 1998 Frank L. Schmidt and John E. Hunter published The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology, which analysed how well different assessment tests predict future job performance.

They found that general mental ability (GMA) tests (tests of intelligence or general cognitive ability) are highly predictive of future job performance when combined with a test of integrity (integrity tests are used to hire employees with reduced probability of ‘counterproductive job behaviours’, such as drinking on the job or stealing from their employer) or with a structured interview. But they also highlighted something often overlooked: work samples.

Their later work downgraded their findings on work samples a bit, in part because it can be harder to sample work in a service job rather than a manual skill, but work samples are still good at predicting job performance.

Schmidt and Hunter found work samples are best for experienced hires, and that a GMA test and an integrity test or a GMA test and a structured interview work for those with lower levels of experience. But work samples can be useful for less experienced hires if used in the right way, such as asking someone to set out what they would do in a certain situation. The charity Power to Change highlighted the importance of work samples in our report on How UK Charities Recruit.

Why using work samples matters

When hiring, stick to what matters. Including things that don’t matter is a waste of time and risks introducing bias into the process. If you’re recruiting, it shouldn’t matter what school someone went to. Hobbies and interests can give an insight into a candidate’s motivation for working for your charity, but whether they like music or fencing rarely means they do a better or worse job. So stick to what is directly relevant to their ability to do that job.

What someone studied at university might be really relevant to the job you’re recruiting for. But it might not be. Lots of jobs say being educated to degree level is a necessary requirement, but does having a drama degree mean someone is a better fundraiser than someone who didn’t go to university? Maybe, but maybe not. What is more likely to give a better idea of whether someone could be a good fundraiser is to ask them what they’d do if they were a fundraiser.

Traditional application methods like CVs and cover letters or application forms can include lots of opportunities for bias. Even someone’s name can impact their chances of progressing to the next stage of the process or getting the job.

How to use work samples

If you’re recruiting a fundraiser, that might include asking how they’d plan some fundraising events. If they’re a researcher, how would they plan and conduct an evaluation of the impact of your programme?

After writing the exercise, create a scorecard for what a good, average, and bad answer would look like, so you can tell in advance and decide who should go through to the next round. To do work samples well, they need to be structured and standardised, as does the scoring. The tests should be representative of the job itself and measured using clear criteria.

Using work samples with our new screening questions

Our new customisable screening questions are an easy way to include work samples in your application process. Just post a job with us and select ‘Quick Apply’, then you’ll be given the option to add screening questions. As well as yes/no responses, this feature allows you to use open text answers with a variety of different question types. A work sample screening question may ask candidates how they would go about completing a relevant task or how they would navigate a challenging situation they may be likely to encounter in the role.

For example:

How would you analyse and report data from grant reports to best illustrate their impact on the goals and mission of the charity? Please give reference to some of the steps you would take.

Or:

You’re working on a new event launch. Which marketing channels would you include in your marketing plan?

We recommend saving longer tasks for later in the recruitment process, so as not to put candidates off in the early stages, but one or two short work sample questions at the first recruitment stage can be a very effective method of shortlisting candidates.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure that what you’re asking for, testing or assessing is relevant to the job.