Essential Work Samples for Evaluating AI-Enhanced Performance Review Skills

Performance reviews are critical touchpoints in the employee lifecycle, yet they often suffer from inconsistency, bias, and subjective evaluation. Organizations seeking to modernize their performance management systems are increasingly turning to AI-enhanced tools to bring greater objectivity, fairness, and consistency to the review process. However, identifying professionals who can effectively implement and manage these AI-enhanced systems requires careful evaluation of specific skills.

The intersection of artificial intelligence and human resources demands a unique blend of technical understanding, people management expertise, and ethical awareness. Professionals in this space must be able to select appropriate AI tools, implement them effectively, train managers on their use, and continuously monitor for potential biases or issues. Without proper implementation, even the most sophisticated AI systems can perpetuate or amplify existing biases rather than mitigate them.

The following work samples and role plays are designed to evaluate a candidate's ability to navigate the complexities of AI-enhanced performance review systems. These exercises assess not just theoretical knowledge, but practical application skills in real-world scenarios that HR professionals and managers face when implementing AI tools for performance management.

By using these carefully crafted activities, organizations can identify candidates who understand both the technical aspects of AI systems and the human elements of performance management. The right professional will be able to leverage AI to enhance consistency while maintaining the human touch that makes performance reviews meaningful and developmental for employees.

Activity #1: AI Implementation Planning Exercise

This exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to strategically plan the implementation of AI tools in a performance review system. It tests their understanding of change management, stakeholder communication, and technical integration considerations. A successful candidate will demonstrate both technical knowledge of AI capabilities and practical awareness of organizational dynamics.

Directions for the Company:

• Provide the candidate with a fictional company profile including size (approximately 500 employees), industry (technology), current performance review process (semi-annual reviews with inconsistent rating scales across departments), and key stakeholder concerns (HR team worried about compliance, managers concerned about time investment, employees skeptical about fairness).
• Give the candidate 30 minutes to prepare a one-page implementation plan and 15 minutes to present and discuss their plan.
• Prepare questions about specific aspects of the plan to test the depth of the candidate's knowledge.
• Have a senior HR leader and an IT representative in the room to evaluate both HR and technical considerations.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the company profile and current performance review challenges.
• Create a phased implementation plan for introducing AI tools to enhance performance review consistency.
• Your plan should address: tool selection criteria, data privacy considerations, training needs, change management approach, timeline, and success metrics.
• Be prepared to explain how your plan addresses potential resistance from different stakeholder groups.
• Consider both short-term implementation steps and long-term sustainability of the AI-enhanced system.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should provide feedback on one strength of the implementation plan (e.g., "Your phased approach shows good awareness of change management principles") and one area for improvement (e.g., "Your plan could better address data privacy concerns").
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to verbally revise their approach based on the improvement feedback, focusing specifically on how they would enhance that aspect of the plan.

Activity #2: AI Tool Evaluation Exercise

This exercise assesses a candidate's ability to critically evaluate AI tools for performance reviews, focusing on their technical understanding of AI capabilities and limitations. It reveals whether they can match business needs with appropriate technological solutions while considering ethical implications.

Directions for the Company:

• Create profiles of three fictional AI performance review tools with different features, pricing models, and approaches to bias mitigation:

1. Tool A: Natural language processing to analyze manager comments for bias, mid-range price, cloud-based
2. Tool B: Comparative analytics across departments with calibration features, premium price, requires significant integration
3. Tool C: Basic sentiment analysis and consistency checking, lower price, quick implementation

• Provide information about your company's specific needs: improving cross-department consistency, reducing time spent on reviews, and ensuring legal compliance.
• Allow the candidate 25 minutes to review materials and prepare their analysis.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the profiles of three AI performance review tools and the company's specific needs.
• Create an evaluation matrix comparing the tools across relevant dimensions (features, implementation requirements, cost, bias mitigation approaches, etc.).
• Recommend which tool would best meet the company's needs, with clear justification.
• Identify potential limitations or risks of your recommended tool and how you would mitigate them.
• Prepare a brief explanation of how you would measure the success of the chosen tool after implementation.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should acknowledge one particularly insightful aspect of the candidate's analysis (e.g., "Your consideration of how each tool handles different languages shows great attention to global implementation issues").
• Provide one area where the analysis could be strengthened (e.g., "You might want to consider more deeply how each tool's algorithm could be audited for bias").
• Ask the candidate to spend 5 minutes expanding their evaluation to address the feedback point.

Activity #3: Manager Training Role Play

This role play evaluates the candidate's ability to translate technical AI concepts into practical guidance for managers. It tests communication skills, empathy, and the ability to address resistance to new technology while ensuring proper use of AI-enhanced review systems.

Directions for the Company:

• Assign an interviewer to play the role of a skeptical middle manager who has concerns about using AI in performance reviews.
• Provide the candidate with information about the fictional AI tool being implemented, including its key features, benefits, and potential pitfalls.
• Create a one-page "cheat sheet" of common manager concerns (e.g., "Will this make my job obsolete?", "How do I know the AI isn't biased?", "This seems like more work for me").
• Allow the candidate 15 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes for the role play.

Directions for the Candidate:

• You are the HR professional responsible for training managers on a newly implemented AI-enhanced performance review system.
• Review the information about the AI tool and prepare to conduct a brief training session with a manager.
• Your goal is to help the manager understand:
• How the AI tool works (in non-technical terms)
• How it will help them conduct more consistent reviews
• What their role remains in the process
• How to interpret and potentially override AI suggestions when appropriate
• Be prepared to address concerns and resistance from the manager.
• Focus on practical application rather than technical details.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should highlight one effective communication strategy the candidate used (e.g., "Your use of concrete examples made the benefits very clear").
• Provide one suggestion for improvement (e.g., "You might want to acknowledge the learning curve more explicitly to validate the manager's concerns").
• Ask the candidate to re-do a portion of the training that addresses the improvement area, giving them 5 minutes to incorporate the feedback.

Activity #4: Bias Detection and Mitigation Exercise

This technical exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to identify and address potential biases in AI-enhanced performance review systems. It tests critical thinking, ethical awareness, and problem-solving skills in ensuring AI tools promote rather than undermine fairness.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a fictional dataset showing performance review ratings and language analysis from an AI system, with subtle patterns suggesting potential bias (e.g., consistently lower ratings for remote workers despite similar performance metrics, gendered language differences in feedback).
• Include system-generated recommendations that might perpetuate these biases.
• Provide basic information about how the fictional AI system works and what data it uses.
• Allow the candidate 30 minutes to review the materials and prepare their analysis.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided performance review data and AI-generated recommendations.
• Identify at least three potential areas where the AI system might be introducing or amplifying bias.
• For each identified issue:
• Explain how you detected the potential bias
• Hypothesize what might be causing it in the AI system
• Recommend specific steps to mitigate the issue
• Prepare a brief explanation of how you would establish ongoing monitoring to detect similar issues in the future.
• Consider both technical adjustments to the AI system and process changes for human reviewers.

Feedback Mechanism:

• The interviewer should commend one particularly insightful observation or solution (e.g., "Your identification of how language analysis differs between departments shows excellent analytical skills").
• Provide one area where the analysis could be deepened (e.g., "Consider how intersectionality might affect the patterns you're seeing").
• Give the candidate 10 minutes to expand their analysis based on the feedback, focusing specifically on the area identified for improvement.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should these exercises take in total?

Each exercise is designed to take approximately 45-60 minutes, including preparation time, execution, and feedback. If you're conducting multiple exercises with the same candidate, we recommend spreading them across different interview sessions or selecting the 1-2 most relevant exercises for your specific needs.

Do I need technical AI expertise to evaluate candidates using these exercises?

While some basic understanding of AI concepts is helpful, the exercises are designed to evaluate practical application rather than deep technical knowledge. Having one person with AI familiarity on the interview panel is beneficial, but HR professionals can effectively evaluate most aspects of the candidate's responses.

How should we adapt these exercises for candidates with different experience levels?

For more junior candidates, provide additional context about the company and AI tools, and focus your evaluation more on their reasoning process than specific technical knowledge. For senior candidates, you might add complexity by introducing regulatory considerations or global implementation challenges.

Can these exercises be conducted remotely?

Yes, all of these exercises can be adapted for remote interviews. For the planning and evaluation exercises, candidates can share their screens while presenting. For the role play, video conferencing works well. Just ensure candidates have access to all necessary materials in advance.

How do we ensure these exercises don't inadvertently introduce bias into our hiring process?

Standardize your evaluation criteria before conducting the exercises and have multiple interviewers assess each candidate independently before discussing. Focus on specific skills demonstrated rather than style preferences, and be conscious of potential cultural differences in communication approaches.

Should we share these exercises with candidates in advance?

For Activities #1 and #2, providing a general overview of the exercise type without specific details can help candidates prepare appropriately without compromising the assessment. For Activities #3 and #4, the spontaneous nature of the exercise is important for evaluation, so these should not be shared in advance.

The implementation of AI in performance reviews represents a significant opportunity to enhance consistency, reduce bias, and improve the employee experience. However, this potential can only be realized with skilled professionals who understand both the capabilities and limitations of AI technology in the human resources context. By using these work samples and role plays, organizations can identify candidates who possess the unique blend of technical understanding, people skills, and ethical awareness needed to successfully implement AI-enhanced performance review systems.

Yardstick's suite of AI-powered hiring tools can further enhance your ability to identify the right talent for these specialized roles. Our AI Job Descriptions help you clearly articulate the unique requirements for AI-HR hybrid roles, while our AI Interview Question Generator and AI Interview Guide Generator can complement these work samples with targeted questions to thoroughly evaluate candidates.

Want to build a complete interview guide for evaluating AI-Enhanced Performance Review skills? Sign up for a free Yardstick account today!