Choose the Assessment That Answers Your Hiring Question
Compare work samples and structured interviews by evidence, job relevance and review effort, using a hypothetical support-role example.
Choose a work sample when you need to see a candidate perform a representative task. Choose a structured interview when you need a comparable account of their judgment and behavior. Use both only when each resolves a different uncertainty.
OPM defines work samples around performance of job-like tasks. Its structured-interview description uses standardized questions and a common scoring framework. Neither label, by itself, proves that an employer has designed the exercise well. OPM: Work Samples and Simulations; OPM: Structured Interviews.
Compare them against one job task
Consider a hypothetical customer-support role. The team needs accurate written replies and sensible escalation decisions. A sample could provide a fictional customer message, a short policy sheet and a request to draft a response. An interview could ask the candidate to explain a previous case in which they lacked enough information to resolve a problem.
| Decision dimension | Work sample | Structured interview |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence in this example | The reply the candidate produces | The account and reasoning they give |
| Useful design question | Does the exercise resemble this role’s work? | Do the questions elicit the competency we need? |
| Main review task | Apply a rubric to the output or observed actions | Apply a rubric to the response evidence |
| Easy design mistake | Requiring company knowledge never supplied | Asking follow-ups that change the standard by candidate |
The table compares what each method asks the candidate to do. It does not rank their predictive accuracy: that depends on the particular assessment and its evidence.
Decide what candidates must already know
A realistic-looking task can still test the wrong thing. If your team trains new hires on its internal system, requiring expert operation of that system on day one may confuse familiarity with the skill you intended to measure. OPM specifically cautions that work samples may be inappropriate for activities candidates will learn after selection. OPM: Work Samples and Simulations.
For the support example, supply the fictional policy. Assess whether the person applies it accurately. Do not quietly reward candidates who happen to know how your company usually handles refunds.
Budget the review, too
Before assigning the sample, ask a reviewer to score an invented response. If two reviewers cannot explain the same standard, the exercise is not ready. Before scheduling the interview, check that each question has a purpose and enough time for an answer.
An AI-generated summary can be a navigation aid, but our recommendation is to retain the original response for scoring checks. Do not let a polished summary become evidence the candidate never supplied.
Choose the smallest combination that answers the question
For this hypothetical role, use the writing sample to inspect the reply and a targeted structured question to explore a judgment the sample cannot show. If the interview merely asks the candidate to repeat everything already visible in the sample, shorten it. Additional stages should earn their place through distinct evidence.
Before choosing either method, make sure the job description and assessment criteria agree.