The Layoff Lady: Job Search Challenges: Assessments and Company-Specific Projects During the Hiring Process

Job Search Challenges: Assessments and Company-Specific Projects During the Hiring Process

1/21/2025

By Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady

Demonstrating Your Skills

Employers are trying to find someone to solve the unique problems their business has. Recruiters and hiring managers will want to make sure that candidates have the skills and competencies included on their resume. Let's look at a few ways employers might verify candidate abilities during the hiring process.

About Assessments & Work Samples

Depending on the company, the newness of the position, and the level of the role, there may be more to the interview process than talking with all the stakeholders.
Potential employers may want additional assurances that you are able to complete the key functions included in the job posting.

Many employers will verify the information included in your job applicaiton to ensure it is accurate. It is common for a company to confirm your previous employment, certifications, education, and references. It is also common to ask to see previous work samples, often in the form of an online portfolio, for them to get examples of your previous work. For some roles, the organization, or a hiring manager, may ask you to do even more to ensure that you are the best candidate.

These additional steps often include two key components: pre-employment assessments or role-specific projects.

My Experience With Assessments

As a part of a few hiring processes, I’ve been asked to take various tests to assess my tendencies, abilities, and aptitudes. Key focus areas often include problem-solving, strengths, work style, spatial ability, logical thinking, and temperament.

For one role after layoff #7, the first two “interviews” with one organization were online assessments that compared my test results to a role-specific and company-specific ideal profile. For that job opening, I had 2 “interviews” like this and received a rejection email without interacting with actual people. For another hiring process, I took online exams on logical reasoning, general intelligence, and basic math before I was eligible for a phone screen.

Possible Issues With Assessments

As a hiring manager, your goal is to find a candidate who is a great fit for the open position. Assessments can be useful when they are used to verify skills relevant to performing a specific position well.

However, some assessments may be checking for skills not required for a given role. In addition, some assessments are not intended to be used during the hiring process and may introduce irrelevant or biased information into the hiring decision. In addition, while using assessments can help an organization to find better candidates, they may also cause some potential candidates to opt out of the process.

My Experiences: Work Samples & Small Assignments

As someone who works in the field of learning and development, I expect a potential employer to ask to see my portfolio. During the application process, they often ask for a link to an online collection of work samples. Sometimes, during an interview, an employer will ask me to "talk them through" my portfolio and highlight examples of a specific skill that they find particularly relevent. Alternatively, the hiring manager may commit to looking at my work samples later and ask which ones they should focus on to get the best sense of my skills.

Since I often work in roles where I present in front of groups, I am always ready to make a 10 minute presentation to the hiring team. While most interviewers let me know a presentation is expected, I have also had people ask me during the interview if I could "teach them something" right then.

For higher level roles, I've often been asked to create a "back of the napkin" plan for how I would onboard myself to the new organization. For example, for a Learning & Development Manager role where I would create the learnign function from the ground up, I was asked to create a 30-60-90 day plan outlining what I would do to get to know the organization and prioritize projects.

My Experiences: Interview-Specific Projects

For some roles, the projects have become much more time intensive and elaborate. In my experience, companies may ask for custom work samples based on the role being new, the role being pivotal to future success, the company having a history of them not finding the "right" person for a similar role.

Here are a few examples of the more involved projects and work sampels I've been asked to create as a part of the hiring process:

For a learning consultant role, I was tasked with creating an innovative plan for employee onboarding for new contractors and full-time employees. For this project, I designed a pitch deck to garner buy-in from stakeholders on the solution. I delivered that presentation to a group including the hiring manager, additional managers, and team members. I also designed a blended learning solution that leveraged subject matter presenters and accommodated people having distributed locations and start dates.
For a newly created learning manager role, in addition to a 30-60 day onboarding plan for myself, I was tasked with creating a list of the equipment, software, subscriptions, and additional resources needed to begin creating educational videos for the organization.

For an educational program manager role, I was tasked with creating an innovative onboarding program to teach new full-time staff about company products. I designed a new hire career fair with multiple tables showcasing different products, complete with a passport for trainees to collect stamps. Those trainees who visited each table and filled out their passports were enrolled in a prize drawing for a bigger company-branded prize. They also flew me across the country to deliver this idea to the rest of the team in person.
For a training director role, during the initial application, I answered several essay questions along with my resume and a cover letter. Later in the interview process, after taking two professional assessments, I was also tasked with these three projects:
- Complete data analysis and make three recommendations for next steps to improve the sales and customer satisfaction for three currently available courses.
- Create a project plan showcase my project plannign acumen. I created a 6-page document outlining roles, responsibilities, project objectives, the decision-making processes, core dependencies, timelines, and budget.
- Project future staffing needs and supporting budget based on current workload, job titles, staffing levels, and projected future needs.
For another training director role, I signed a non-disclosure agreement and was asked to design a section of a course for one of the company's current clients. I also completed a half-day of work (unpaid) in their office. That "in box experience" included running an internal meeting, doing additional work on one of their current projects, meeting with external clients, and presenting my proposed solution to the client.

Issues With Interview-Specific Projects

In the abstract, I’ve seen many people bluster on social media about what they absolutely will never do as part of a job interview process. I also know that the decision feels much different when you're in career transition than when you are gainfully employed. It's a lot harder to hold firm to your boundaries when you are just certain that going the extra mile now will give you and edge and help you land that job.

It's hard enough when you feel like you had a good phone screen and don't get invited back the next round. It's a whole new level of job search agony when you jump through hoop after hoop and learn that you were not selected. In fact, in all of these cases, I did not get the job. In one case, I got an offer that was later rescinded (because start-ups). In the final example listed--which also included 10 interviews, me reading the book written by the company's founder, and the aforementioned half day of work from me--the organization opted not to fill the position at all.

My Insights On Company-Specific Projects

I also have a few additional insights from all of these company-specific I have completed for this laundry list of jobs I did not get.

By the time I was doing more elaborate company-specific projects, I was in the final round of interviews for these jobs.
Much of the work I completed specifically as a part of these interview processes I now include in my professional portfolio.
I often built relationships with people at those organizations which will help me in the future.
I always had lessons learned from each of those experiences about how I now approach conversations about a new role with potential employers.
I found important boundaries that will serve me well in the future.
I identified a few key red flags I now use to evaluate companies, job opportunities, and hiring managers.

My Lessons Learned and Future Strategies

Decide in advance how much time you are willing to spend completing projects as part of the job application process. For example, would you be okay with 1, 2, or 5 hours of project work to demonstrate your skills? Determine the maximum hours of work you are willing to do before you are in front of a potential employer. This will help you make a better decision when the situation arises. Only you can decide how much unpaid work you’re willing to do for any given job.
Think about how you might communicate your boundaries during the interview process. You might commit to a specific number of hours of work, offer to do paid work for a reduced hourly rate, or decide to withdraw. Thinking about this before an actual situation is presented to you will help you make a better decision when the question comes up for you.

Consider having a conversation with the hiring manager. Typically, I've been pretty far along in the hiring process before custom projects became part of the equation. If you are a strong candidate, and know what you are and aren't willing to do, having a frank conversation with a hiring manager could help resolve the issue.
Assess the projected workload against your interest and likelihood of getting the job. You may need to revisit your previously made decision at the time the work is presented. As you are closer to the final stage in the hiring process, you may be more willing to take part in a project. Know that your decision on what or how much to do will vary with each opportunity.

What Do You Think?

What are your personal guidelines for how much time you will spend creating custom work samples during the interview process for a given job? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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