A Work Simulation is a paid hiring exercise built around the actual role and business context. We agree the technical understanding and behaviours we need to see, then design a task that gives the candidate a fair chance to demonstrate them. Relevant tools, realistic information and live discussion let us examine how the person approaches the work. The aim is a better-informed hiring decision, with the remaining gaps made clear.
Why the work needs context
An interview or finished task can leave you unsure how someone would handle your actual work. They may have explained a strong approach, but you still haven’t seen what they notice, what they understand or how they make a decision when something changes.
Hiring is matchmaking. The tools, information, constraints and people around a role all shape what a good match looks like. A simulation brings the relevant parts of that context into the assessment.
It remains a limited exercise. We cannot reproduce every part of the job or remove every uncertainty. We choose the context that helps answer the hiring team’s most important questions, then use the evidence alongside the rest of the assessment.
What a Work Simulation looks like
We build each task from the role’s discovery findings. A growth strategist and a finance director need different exercises. Candidates being compared for the same role still need a consistent basis for assessment.
1. Agree what you need to see
Start with the decision the hiring team needs to make. What must this person understand? Which behaviours matter when the work gets difficult? Write those requirements down, agree what useful evidence would look like and involve the person who will assess the work before designing the task.
For a behaviour, use this structure: when this happens, the person takes this action to create this impact. For a growth strategist, you might want to see them investigate why sales have risen without a matching increase in profit, explain the uncertainty and decide what to check before increasing spend. That is an illustrative task, not a claim about a particular client.
Study how strong practitioners handle that situation. Look for what they notice, ask, check and explain. Use those observations to design the exercise without assuming everyone must copy one person’s style.
2. Prepare the candidate
Give the candidate a SIM Task Deck - a clear guide to the exercise. It should explain the business context, why you are running the task, what will happen, who will be there, the preparation and session time, permitted tools, expected output, assessment areas and payment terms. Explain recording arrangements and next steps too.
Supply enough information for the candidate to make sense of the work. Use authorised, limited read-only access where real data is appropriate. If that access is not permitted, use a representative anonymised dataset or controlled environment. Candidates inspect and recommend. They do not make changes in live accounts.
3. Choose the format that reveals the evidence
For a growth strategist, we might use a roughly one-hour live call, with a short orientation and a context pack supplied beforehand. The candidate examines account information and talks through what they see. We want to understand the business knowledge they bring as well as how they use it.
That is one example. Another role may benefit from a prepared analysis followed by a live discussion. The time, sequence and level of direction follow the assessment criteria. Explain those conditions before the candidate accepts the task.
4. Have someone who knows the work lead the session
The assessor needs enough technical knowledge to follow the candidate’s reasoning and ask useful questions. That could be a hiring manager, founder or practising specialist. Their title alone does not make them the right assessor.
Ask what they noticed, why it matters and what they would do next. Introduce a relevant change in the figures, constraints or a question from the client. Give feedback when the response is something you need to assess. Probe without supplying the answer. There may be more than one sound approach.
Allow the tools agreed for the role, including AI where appropriate. Watch how the candidate checks and explains the output. If the role requires foundational understanding, ask questions that let them demonstrate it. A live discussion provides evidence of comprehension and adaptation. It does not prove every answer is unaided or make the exercise impossible to fake.
Scoring
Agree the technical and behavioural criteria, quality levels and any weighting before the task. Weighting follows the actual role. There is no single percentage split that fits every business, technical or leadership role.
Name who is qualified to assess each area. Where several people assess the exercise, have them record their own observations before comparing notes. Capture specific examples promptly, including what the candidate did, the interpretation and any unanswered question. With appropriate consent and permitted handling, a recording or note taker helps the assessor stay present during the call.
An approved AI tool can help locate and organise observations from an authorised transcript. A person who understands the work checks them and owns the assessment. Keep relevant work samples with the notes because a transcript will not capture everything done on screen.
Use comparable criteria and conditions across candidates. Record differences in prompts, access, time or support that could affect the comparison. Expect to refine the task after early runs, but document meaningful changes and account for them before comparing scores from different versions.
Why candidates are paid
We pay candidates for the agreed work because the exercise asks for meaningful time and effort. It should be clear what they are taking on before they accept.
The task, expected time, payment amount and terms are provided before the exercise. Payment for the agreed work on completion does not depend on advancing to the next stage. The amount follows the agreed scope and role. There is no universal rate in this guide.
Paying is a practical way to respect the person’s time and make room for proper effort. It does not guarantee motivation, completion or a better result. Clear instructions, a proportionate task and a well-run session still matter.
Realistic work, with clear boundaries
The exercise should preserve the decisions and constraints that matter in the job. That may involve a bounded part of a real account, but realism does not require unrestricted access. Authorise the information and access before sharing them. An NDA is part of the confidentiality arrangements. It is not a substitute for permission to disclose data or use a system.
The same care applies to AI. A tool can be allowed for the exercise while particular information remains off limits. Use only the data approved for that tool. When real data cannot be shared, an authorised, representative anonymised version can still preserve the problem we need the candidate to work through.
We assess technical understanding and behaviour together. Can the person interpret the information accurately, explain a decision, recognise uncertainty and respond usefully when circumstances change? Knowledge and judgement both matter. The exercise is an assessment with an agreed scope, not permission to change live accounts or take ownership of the candidate’s work.
How the evidence informs the decision
The simulation should leave the hiring team with a written account of what each candidate demonstrated against the role’s requirements. That is more useful than trying to remember which call felt best.
Compare those observations with the rest of the evidence, including the person’s experience, work needs and the conditions of the role. A simulation may support an earlier view or show that it needs to change. Make the gaps visible and decide what, if anything, needs a further check.
Our aim is to increase confidence by seeing relevant work and understanding the thinking behind it. We still cannot promise future performance or a lasting match from one exercise. The value is a more informed conversation before either side commits.
$7,500 flat fee. 120-day replacement guarantee. Paid simulations included.
As of October 2026.Learn how Work Drivers add context to the hiring decision or book a Scoping Call to discuss your role.
