Who it's for
- Hiring managers
- Founders building hiring loops
- Operations leaders
- Sales managers
- Service businesses
Process · Screening & Verification
Hiring Through Work Samples
Work-sample hiring evaluates candidates by asking them to complete a short, role-relevant task — a video demonstration, written exercise, mock call, or live exercise — instead of relying mainly on the resume.
A well-designed work sample takes a candidate under 60 minutes, mirrors a real first-30-day task, and is graded by at least two reviewers against named criteria. For service and craft roles, a skill video is often the strongest sample of all.
Short answer
Short answer
Work samples reduce reliance on resume signals that often miss the point.
Short, paid, asynchronous samples expand your pool instead of shrinking it.
Grading with a fixed rubric and two reviewers cuts single-reviewer bias.
Why it matters
- Resumes describe past work; samples show present ability.
- Samples surface non-traditional candidates who would have been screened out on paper.
- A validated sample reduces 90-day regret hires.
How Vetano fits
- Vetano hosts skill videos as a portable work sample on the candidate's verified profile.
- Employers can review the same artifact across multiple roles without re-asking the candidate.
- Identity verification ensures the sample is from the candidate you'll actually hire.
Comparison
Work-sample hiring vs resume-only screening
Traditional approach
Vetano approach
Resume describes ability through past titles
Sample shows ability through present work
Strong on paper, weak in practice (or vice versa)
Closer signal to actual on-the-job behavior
Fast to screen, slow to validate
Slightly slower to screen, much faster to validate
Platform comparison
Work-sample hiring tools compared
| Feature | Vetano | HackerRank | Codility | Vervoe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample format | Skill video / portfolio | Coding test | Coding test | Job simulation |
| Best for engineering | No | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Best for service / sales / ops | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Time-to-evaluate | Asynchronous, < 5 min | Timed test | Timed test | Asynchronous |
| Candidate retains sample on profile | Yes | No | No | No |
Quick answers
Direct answers to common questions
Sales role work sample ideas
Common sales work samples that predict on-the-job performance: a 2-minute mock cold-call recording, a written response to a fictional inbound lead, a discovery-call role-play with a hiring manager, and a 90-day plan for a named target account.
Keep total candidate time under 60 minutes — anything longer skews your pool toward unemployed candidates.
Recommended tools for grading work samples
Vervoe and Toggl Hire include built-in rubric scoring for written and video samples. HackerRank and Codility auto-score code. For lighter-weight grading, a shared Google Sheet with three named criteria and two reviewers per sample reduces single-reviewer bias.
Vetano hosts the candidate's skill video on their profile so the same artifact follows them across roles, reducing re-submission overhead.
How to validate a work sample predicts on-the-job success
Track two cohorts: candidates hired with the sample in their dossier and candidates hired without. After 6 and 12 months, compare 90-day ramp scores, manager ratings, and retention. If the sample-hired cohort outperforms by more than one standard deviation on any metric, the sample is validated.
If results are flat or worse, redesign the sample to mirror a real first-30-day task instead of a hypothetical scenario.
Examples
Work sample examples by role
Sales
2-minute mock cold-call recording graded on opener, discovery, and next-step ask.
Service / craft
60-second skill video on Vetano showing a recent piece of work.
Operations / RevOps
30-minute scenario: triage three inbound issues and write the response.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How long should a hiring work sample take?
Under 60 minutes for most roles. Anything longer skews your pool toward candidates with the most free time, not the most ability.
Should I pay candidates for work samples?
Pay for any sample longer than 60 minutes or any sample whose output you might use in production. Below that threshold, paying is courteous but not required.
Do work samples reduce hiring bias?
Yes, when graded blind against a fixed rubric with at least two reviewers. They reduce reliance on school, company, and demographic signals that often correlate with bias.
What are good work samples for service roles?
A short skill video is usually the strongest signal — it shows the actual work and the candidate's communication style in one artifact. Vetano is built around this format.
Related pages
Keep building context around this topic.
Replace resume guesswork with real proof
See how Vetano makes a verified skill video the candidate's portable work sample.
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