AI Content Generation Work Sample Exercises

Practical work samples, technical skill evaluations, and role plays are indispensable tools in the hiring process, particularly for roles like AI Content Generation where a blend of technical understanding, creative writing, and strategic thinking is paramount. While resumes and interviews offer valuable insights into a candidate's background and communication skills, they often fall short in demonstrating a candidate's ability to perform the actual tasks required on a day-to-day basis. Work samples bridge this gap by providing a realistic simulation of the challenges and responsibilities inherent in the role.

For an AI Content Generator, this means evaluating not just their theoretical knowledge of AI and content principles, but their practical ability to leverage AI tools effectively, craft compelling narratives, and adapt their writing style to different platforms and audiences. These exercises move beyond hypothetical scenarios, requiring candidates to actively engage with real-world problems and produce tangible outputs. This allows interviewers to assess their problem-solving skills, creativity, technical proficiency, and attention to detail in a way that traditional methods cannot.

Furthermore, well-designed work samples provide a standardized and objective basis for comparison across candidates. By presenting each candidate with the same task and evaluating their performance against a predefined set of criteria, companies can mitigate unconscious bias and ensure a fairer assessment process. This consistency is crucial for identifying the truly exceptional candidates who possess the unique combination of skills and attributes needed to excel in the dynamic field of AI Content Generation.

Incorporating these practical evaluations into the interview process not only benefits the hiring company but also provides candidates with a clearer understanding of the role's expectations. It allows them to showcase their abilities in a meaningful way and determine if the challenges align with their interests and strengths. Ultimately, a robust work sample process leads to more informed hiring decisions, reducing the risk of mis-hires and building stronger, more capable teams.

Activity #1: AI-Assisted Blog Post Creation

This activity assesses the candidate's ability to use AI content generation tools to produce a coherent, engaging, and well-structured blog post on a given topic. It evaluates their prompt engineering skills, their ability to edit and refine AI-generated text, and their understanding of content best practices like SEO and readability.

Directions for the Company: Provide the candidate with access to a specific AI content generation tool (e.g., a trial account or a shared platform). Give them a clear topic or keyword phrase for the blog post, a target audience, and a desired word count range. Specify any key points or subtopics that must be included. Provide access to relevant internal style guides or branding guidelines if applicable.

Directions for the Candidate: Using the provided AI tool and topic, generate a draft blog post. Review and edit the AI-generated content to ensure accuracy, clarity, and originality. Structure the post with appropriate headings, subheadings, and bullet points. Optimize the content for readability and search engines based on the provided keyword. The final output should be a polished blog post ready for publication.

Feedback Mechanism: Provide feedback on the quality of the AI-generated draft, the effectiveness of the candidate's editing and refinement, and the overall structure and clarity of the final post. For improvement feedback, focus on a specific area like strengthening the introduction or conclusion, improving the flow between sections, or refining the language for the target audience. Allow the candidate a brief period to revise a portion of the post based on this feedback.

Activity #2: Content Repurposing and Adaptation

This exercise evaluates the candidate's understanding of how to repurpose and adapt content for different platforms and formats, a common task in content generation roles. It tests their creativity and ability to tailor messaging effectively.

Directions for the Company: Provide the candidate with an existing piece of content, such as a longer article, a white paper, or a video transcript. Instruct them to adapt this content into two different formats suitable for different platforms (e.g., a series of social media posts, an email newsletter segment, or a script for a short video). Specify the target platforms and the goals for each new piece of content.

Directions for the Candidate: Analyze the provided content and identify key takeaways and messages. Based on the target platforms and goals, create two new pieces of content that effectively repurpose the original information. Consider the tone, length, and format appropriate for each platform. The final output should be the two distinct pieces of adapted content.

Feedback Mechanism: Provide feedback on the candidate's ability to identify key information, their creativity in adapting the content, and the suitability of the new content for the target platforms. For improvement feedback, suggest ways to make one of the adapted pieces more engaging for its specific audience or to better highlight a particular call to action. Allow the candidate a brief opportunity to revise a section of one of the adapted pieces.

Activity #3: Planning a Content Series

This activity assesses the candidate's strategic thinking and ability to plan a cohesive content series around a specific theme or goal. It evaluates their understanding of content strategy and their ability to structure information logically.

Directions for the Company: Provide the candidate with a broad topic or a marketing objective (e.g., "educate our audience about the benefits of [product/service]" or "generate leads for [specific campaign]"). Ask them to outline a short content series (e.g., 3-4 pieces) that would effectively address this topic or objective.

Directions for the Candidate: Develop a brief plan for a content series. For each piece in the series, provide a working title, a brief description of the content, the target format (e.g., blog post, infographic, video), and how it contributes to the overall theme or objective. Explain the rationale behind your chosen formats and the intended flow of the series. The final output should be a concise outline of the content series.

Feedback Mechanism: Provide feedback on the candidate's understanding of the topic or objective, the logical flow and coherence of the proposed series, and the suitability of the chosen formats. For improvement feedback, suggest ways to strengthen the connection between the pieces in the series or to better align the content with the stated objective. Allow the candidate a brief period to refine a part of the series outline.

Activity #4: Technical Concept Explanation

This exercise evaluates the candidate's ability to understand and explain a technical concept clearly and concisely to a non-technical audience. This is crucial for AI Content Generators who may need to translate complex AI functionalities or technical product details into accessible language.

Directions for the Company: Provide the candidate with a brief description of a moderately technical concept related to AI, natural language processing, or a specific feature of your product/service. Ask them to write a short explanation of this concept (e.g., 200-300 words) aimed at a general audience with no prior technical knowledge.

Directions for the Candidate: Read and understand the provided technical concept. Write a clear, simple, and engaging explanation of this concept for a non-technical audience. Avoid jargon where possible, or explain it clearly if necessary. The goal is to make the concept easily understandable to someone without a technical background. The final output should be the written explanation.

Feedback Mechanism: Provide feedback on the clarity, accuracy, and simplicity of the explanation, as well as its effectiveness in reaching a non-technical audience. For improvement feedback, highlight a specific sentence or phrase that could be simplified or clarified further. Allow the candidate a brief opportunity to revise a section of the explanation based on this feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How long should each activity take? The time allotted for each activity should be reasonable, typically ranging from 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the complexity. Clearly communicate the expected time commitment to the candidate beforehand.
• Can candidates use external resources? Unless otherwise specified (like in the AI tool activity), assume candidates can use standard online resources for research, just as they would in a real work scenario.
• How should we evaluate the subjective aspects of the writing? Develop a simple rubric focusing on key criteria like clarity, coherence, creativity, and relevance to the prompt. Train interviewers to apply the rubric consistently.
• What if a candidate struggles significantly with an activity? The feedback mechanism is designed to address this. If a candidate still struggles after receiving feedback and attempting a revision, it might indicate a gap in a core skill.
• Should we pay candidates for completing work samples? While not always required, offering a small stipend for more extensive work samples is a good practice and can attract a stronger candidate pool.
• How do we ensure the work samples are fair and unbiased? Standardize the prompts, resources, and evaluation criteria. Ensure multiple reviewers assess each work sample independently before discussing.

Incorporating these practical work sample exercises into your hiring process for AI Content Generation roles will provide invaluable insights into a candidate's real-world capabilities. By observing how candidates approach and complete tasks directly relevant to the job, you can make more confident and effective hiring decisions. To further refine your hiring process and build a comprehensive interview guide for this role, explore Yardstick's AI-powered tools, including the AI Job Descriptions, AI Interview Question Generator, and AI Interview Guide Generator.