Essential Work Samples for Evaluating AI Adoption Skills in Non-Technical Teams

As artificial intelligence continues to transform businesses across industries, the ability to effectively adopt and implement AI solutions has become a critical skill for teams of all types. For non-technical departments like marketing, HR, operations, and customer service, successful AI adoption requires a unique blend of business acumen, change management expertise, and sufficient technical literacy to bridge the gap between business needs and AI capabilities.

Evaluating a candidate's ability to lead AI adoption initiatives in non-technical environments presents unique challenges. Traditional interviews often fail to reveal a candidate's practical skills in identifying AI opportunities, planning implementations, managing stakeholder expectations, and driving organizational change. Without seeing these skills in action, hiring managers risk bringing on team members who understand AI conceptually but struggle to translate that knowledge into business value.

Work samples and role plays provide a window into how candidates approach real-world AI adoption challenges. They reveal critical thinking patterns, problem-solving approaches, and communication styles that determine success in bridging technical and business worlds. These exercises also demonstrate a candidate's ability to navigate the human aspects of technological change—often the most significant barrier to successful AI implementation.

The following work samples are designed to evaluate candidates' capabilities across the AI adoption lifecycle: from identifying opportunities and building implementation roadmaps to evaluating solutions and managing organizational change. By observing candidates complete these exercises, hiring teams can gain valuable insights into their potential to drive successful AI initiatives in non-technical environments.

Activity #1: AI Opportunity Identification & Prioritization

This exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to identify valuable AI use cases within a business context and prioritize them based on feasibility, impact, and resource requirements. Successful AI adoption begins with selecting the right opportunities—those that deliver meaningful business value while being technically feasible and organizationally acceptable. This skill is fundamental for anyone leading AI initiatives in non-technical teams.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a brief (1-2 page) description of a fictional department or business unit with clear business objectives, key challenges, and current processes. Include information about available data sources and current technology infrastructure.
• Provide the candidate with this document 24 hours before the interview to allow for preparation.
• During the interview, give the candidate 15-20 minutes to present their identified AI opportunities and prioritization framework.
• Allocate 10 minutes for questions and discussion following the presentation.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided business context and identify 3-5 potential AI use cases that could address business challenges or improve processes.
• Create a prioritization framework to evaluate and rank these opportunities based on criteria such as business impact, technical feasibility, data availability, implementation complexity, and organizational readiness.
• Prepare a brief presentation explaining your identified opportunities, prioritization methodology, and final recommendations.
• Be prepared to explain your reasoning and answer questions about your approach.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, provide feedback on one aspect the candidate handled well (such as their analytical approach or business understanding) and one area for improvement (such as consideration of implementation challenges or data requirements).
• Ask the candidate to reconsider one of their prioritization decisions based on your feedback and explain how they would adjust their approach.

Activity #2: AI Implementation Roadmap Development

This exercise assesses a candidate's ability to develop a realistic implementation plan for an AI initiative. Creating effective roadmaps requires balancing technical considerations with organizational factors like change management, training needs, and resource constraints. This skill is essential for translating AI opportunities into actionable plans that non-technical teams can execute.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario describing an approved AI initiative for a non-technical department (e.g., implementing an AI-powered customer service chatbot, predictive analytics for marketing campaigns, or AI-assisted talent matching for HR).
• Include details about the organization's size, available resources, current technology landscape, and any relevant constraints.
• Provide the candidate with this information during the interview and allow 30-45 minutes for them to develop their roadmap.
• Prepare a whiteboard or digital collaboration tool for the candidate to use.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Develop an implementation roadmap for the described AI initiative, covering a 6-12 month timeframe.
• Your roadmap should include:
• Key phases and milestones
• Required resources (people, technology, data)
• Stakeholder engagement points
• Training and change management activities
• Success metrics and evaluation points
• Potential risks and mitigation strategies
• Be prepared to explain your reasoning for the sequence and timing of activities.
• Consider both technical implementation steps and organizational change management needs.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on the roadmap's comprehensiveness and realism, highlighting one strength and one area that needs more consideration.
• Ask the candidate to revise a specific section of their roadmap based on your feedback, such as adding more detail to the change management approach or reconsidering the timeline for a particular phase.

Activity #3: AI Vendor Evaluation Role Play

This role play evaluates a candidate's ability to assess AI solutions and vendors critically. Non-technical teams often rely on third-party AI solutions, making vendor selection a crucial skill. This exercise tests the candidate's ability to ask insightful questions, identify potential implementation challenges, and evaluate solutions against business requirements without getting lost in technical details.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a fictional AI vendor profile and product information sheet for a solution relevant to the department (e.g., an AI content optimization tool for marketing, an AI-powered recruiting assistant for HR).
• Assign an interviewer to play the role of the vendor's sales representative.
• Provide the candidate with a brief description of the business need and basic vendor information 30 minutes before the role play.
• Allow 20-25 minutes for the role play conversation.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided business need and vendor information.
• Prepare questions to evaluate the vendor's solution against your business requirements.
• During the role play, assess the solution's:
• Alignment with business objectives
• Implementation requirements and timeline
• Data needs and security considerations
• Integration with existing systems
• Training and support offerings
• Pricing model and ROI potential
• Your goal is to gather enough information to make a preliminary recommendation about whether to proceed with this vendor.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, provide feedback on the candidate's questioning approach, highlighting one effective line of inquiry and one area where they could have probed deeper.
• Ask the candidate to formulate 2-3 additional questions they would ask in a follow-up meeting based on your feedback.

Activity #4: AI Adoption Change Management Communication

This exercise assesses a candidate's ability to communicate effectively about AI initiatives to non-technical stakeholders. Successful AI adoption requires bringing people along through clear communication that addresses concerns, builds understanding, and creates buy-in. This skill is critical for overcoming resistance and ensuring new AI tools are actually used.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario describing an AI implementation that is facing resistance from end users in a non-technical department.
• Include details about specific concerns (e.g., job security fears, confusion about how to use the tool, skepticism about AI's effectiveness, data privacy concerns).
• Provide information about the stakeholder groups involved and their primary concerns.
• Give the candidate 30 minutes to prepare their communications.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Develop a communication plan to address resistance and build support for the AI initiative.
• Create two specific communication artifacts from your plan:

1. An email or announcement to the broader team introducing the AI initiative and addressing common concerns
2. A one-page FAQ document answering key questions about the implementation

• Your communications should:
• Clearly explain the purpose and benefits of the AI solution in non-technical language
• Address specific concerns identified in the scenario
• Outline what users can expect during implementation
• Explain what support and training will be available
• Provide clear next steps

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on the communication materials, highlighting one effective element (such as clarity of explanation or addressing emotional concerns) and one area for improvement).
• Ask the candidate to revise a specific section of one of their communications based on your feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should these exercises take in total?

These exercises are designed to be flexible. Each can be conducted in 30-45 minutes, though the AI Opportunity Identification exercise works best when candidates have preparation time beforehand. You can select 1-2 exercises most relevant to your needs rather than conducting all four. A comprehensive assessment using all exercises would typically be spread across multiple interview rounds.

Do candidates need technical AI knowledge to complete these exercises?

No, these exercises are specifically designed to evaluate AI adoption skills for non-technical roles. They focus on business application, implementation planning, and change management rather than technical development. Candidates should have a working understanding of AI capabilities and limitations, but deep technical expertise is not required.

How should we adapt these exercises for different seniority levels?

For junior roles, simplify the scenarios and focus on execution aspects like communication planning or vendor question preparation. For senior roles, increase complexity by adding constraints, organizational politics, or cross-functional considerations. You might also ask senior candidates to consider broader strategic implications or to develop governance frameworks.

Can these exercises be conducted remotely?

Yes, all of these exercises can be adapted for remote interviews using video conferencing and collaborative tools like Miro, Google Docs, or Microsoft Teams. For the roadmap exercise, ensure candidates have access to a digital whiteboard. For role plays, practice the scenario beforehand to ensure smooth execution in a virtual environment.

How should we evaluate candidates who have limited direct AI experience?

Focus on transferable skills like change management, project planning, analytical thinking, and communication. Look for candidates who ask insightful questions, make connections to their existing knowledge, and demonstrate learning agility. The exercises evaluate approach and thinking process, which can reveal potential even in candidates without direct AI experience.

Should we provide examples or templates for deliverables?

It's best not to provide examples that might overly influence or constrain candidates' thinking. Instead, be clear about expectations and evaluation criteria. The goal is to see how candidates approach problems and structure their thinking, not to test their familiarity with specific formats or templates.

Effective AI adoption in non-technical teams requires a unique blend of business acumen, change management skills, and technical literacy. By incorporating these work samples into your interview process, you can better identify candidates who can bridge the gap between AI's potential and practical business implementation. These exercises reveal not just what candidates know about AI, but how they approach the complex human and organizational challenges that determine whether AI initiatives succeed or fail.

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