Essential Work Samples for Evaluating Solution Engineer Candidates

Solution Engineers play a pivotal role in the sales process, serving as the technical bridge between customers and your product. They translate complex technical concepts into business value, demonstrate product capabilities, and ensure that proposed solutions align with customer requirements. The effectiveness of your Solution Engineers directly impacts win rates, implementation success, and long-term customer satisfaction.

Evaluating Solution Engineer candidates requires more than just assessing their technical knowledge or sales acumen. You need to observe how they blend these skills in realistic scenarios that mirror the challenges they'll face on the job. Traditional interviews often fail to reveal a candidate's ability to think on their feet, communicate technical concepts clearly, or adapt to customer needs in real-time.

Work samples provide a window into how candidates actually perform the core responsibilities of a Solution Engineer. They reveal not just what candidates know, but how they apply that knowledge in context. By observing candidates tackle realistic challenges, you can assess their technical depth, presentation skills, problem-solving approach, and ability to translate features into benefits.

The following work samples are designed to evaluate the essential competencies of successful Solution Engineers: technical demonstration skills, consultative discovery abilities, solution design expertise, and objection handling capabilities. Each exercise simulates a real-world scenario that Solution Engineers commonly encounter, providing you with concrete evidence of a candidate's potential performance in the role.

Activity #1: Technical Product Demonstration

This exercise evaluates the candidate's ability to effectively demonstrate your product's technical capabilities while maintaining a focus on business value. Solution Engineers must be able to showcase complex features in a way that resonates with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, adapting their presentation style to different audience needs.

Directions for the Company:

• Provide the candidate with access to a sandbox or demo environment of your product 24 hours before the interview.
• Create a fictional customer profile with specific business challenges that your product can address.
• Assign 2-3 team members to play the roles of different stakeholders (e.g., CTO, business user, IT manager).
• Allow 15-20 minutes for the demonstration, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A from the "customer" team.
• Ensure the demo environment is properly configured and functioning to avoid technical issues during the exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the customer profile and identify which product features would be most relevant to their needs.
• Prepare a 15-20 minute demonstration that highlights how the product solves the customer's specific challenges.
• Structure your demonstration to balance technical depth with business value messaging.
• Be prepared to answer questions about implementation, integration, and technical specifications.
• Focus on showing how the product works rather than just describing features.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the demonstration, provide specific feedback on one aspect the candidate did particularly well (e.g., explaining a complex feature in accessible terms).
• Offer one piece of constructive feedback about an area for improvement (e.g., better connecting technical features to business outcomes).
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to adjust their approach and re-demonstrate a portion of the product, incorporating the feedback.

Activity #2: Discovery and Needs Analysis

This exercise assesses the candidate's consultative skills and ability to uncover customer requirements through effective questioning. Solution Engineers must excel at technical discovery to ensure proposed solutions align with customer needs and technical environments.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a detailed scenario of a fictional customer with specific business challenges, technical constraints, and unstated needs.
• Assign a team member to role-play as the customer's technical decision-maker.
• Provide minimal information upfront, requiring the candidate to ask probing questions.
• The role-player should have a complete profile with answers to likely questions about infrastructure, current solutions, pain points, and goals.
• Allow 25-30 minutes for the discovery session.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Conduct a discovery call with the "customer" to understand their technical environment, business challenges, and requirements.
• Use a structured approach to ensure you gather comprehensive information about their needs.
• Ask probing questions that go beyond surface-level requirements to uncover underlying challenges.
• Take notes during the conversation to reference later.
• At the end of the session, summarize your understanding of their needs and priorities to confirm alignment.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on the candidate's questioning technique, highlighting one strength (e.g., effective use of open-ended questions).
• Offer one piece of constructive feedback (e.g., digging deeper into technical constraints).
• Allow the candidate 5-10 minutes to ask additional follow-up questions based on the feedback.

Activity #3: Solution Design and Proposal

This exercise evaluates the candidate's ability to translate customer requirements into a tailored technical solution. Solution Engineers must be able to architect solutions that address customer needs while working within technical constraints and highlighting competitive advantages.

Directions for the Company:

• Provide a detailed customer requirements document that includes business objectives, technical specifications, and constraints.
• Include some ambiguous or conflicting requirements that require clarification or prioritization.
• Make available product documentation, technical specifications, and integration capabilities.
• Allow the candidate 45-60 minutes to prepare a solution design.
• Have 2-3 team members available to evaluate the proposal from different perspectives (technical feasibility, business value, implementation considerations).

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the customer requirements document and any supporting materials.
• Design a solution that addresses the customer's needs using the company's products and services.
• Create a simple diagram or visual representation of your proposed architecture.
• Prepare a 15-minute presentation that outlines:
• Your understanding of the customer's requirements
• Your proposed solution architecture
• How the solution addresses each key requirement
• Implementation considerations and potential challenges
• Any assumptions you've made that would need validation
• Be prepared to explain your technical decisions and trade-offs.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on one aspect of the solution design that was particularly strong (e.g., creative approach to a specific requirement).
• Offer one piece of constructive feedback about an area that could be improved (e.g., addressing a potential scalability concern).
• Give the candidate 10 minutes to revise a portion of their solution based on the feedback.

Activity #4: Handling Technical Objections

This exercise assesses the candidate's ability to address technical concerns and objections that arise during the sales process. Solution Engineers must be able to respond to challenging questions with confidence, accuracy, and empathy, turning potential roadblocks into opportunities to build trust.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a list of 5-7 realistic technical objections or concerns that prospects commonly raise about your product.
• These should include a mix of:
• Feature comparison with competitors
• Technical limitations or constraints
• Integration challenges
• Security concerns
• Performance questions
• Assign team members to present these objections in a role-play scenario.
• Provide the candidate with basic product information but not specific responses to the objections.
• Allow 20-25 minutes for the exercise.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Participate in a role-play scenario where you'll respond to technical objections from a prospective customer.
• Listen carefully to each objection before responding.
• Address concerns honestly while highlighting the strengths of your solution.
• When you don't know the answer to a question, demonstrate how you would handle this situation in a real customer interaction.
• Focus on understanding the underlying concern behind each objection rather than just providing technical responses.
• Use analogies or examples to explain complex concepts when appropriate.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on one objection the candidate handled particularly well (e.g., effectively reframing a perceived weakness as a strength).
• Offer one piece of constructive feedback about an approach that could be improved (e.g., asking more clarifying questions before responding).
• Present a similar objection and allow the candidate to apply the feedback in their response.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should we allocate for these work samples in our interview process?

Each work sample typically requires 30-45 minutes to complete, including time for setup, execution, feedback, and the candidate's response to feedback. We recommend selecting 1-2 work samples that best align with your priorities for the role rather than attempting all four in a single interview process. The technical demonstration and solution design exercises are particularly valuable for evaluating core Solution Engineer competencies.

Should we provide candidates with preparation materials before the interview?

Yes, for activities like the technical demonstration, providing access to a sandbox environment and customer profile 24 hours in advance allows candidates to showcase their true capabilities rather than their ability to think on the spot. This approach better simulates the real job, where Solution Engineers typically have time to prepare for customer interactions.

What if we don't have a demo environment available for the technical demonstration exercise?

If you don't have a demo environment available, you can modify the exercise by providing detailed product information and asking the candidate to create a presentation or walkthrough using slides. While this doesn't test hands-on product knowledge, it still evaluates their ability to structure a compelling demonstration and communicate technical concepts clearly.

How should we evaluate candidates who have strong technical skills but struggle with presentation delivery?

Consider the specific requirements of your Solution Engineer role. Some positions may require more customer-facing presentation skills than others. Look for candidates who demonstrate a growth mindset during the feedback portion of the exercises. If they show significant improvement after receiving feedback, this indicates coachability, which may be more valuable than polished presentation skills for some teams.

Should we use the same scenarios for all candidates to ensure fair comparison?

Yes, using consistent scenarios across candidates enables more objective comparison. However, you may need to adjust the technical complexity based on the candidate's experience level. The core requirements, customer profile, and evaluation criteria should remain consistent to ensure fair assessment.

How do we prevent bias in evaluating these work samples?

Create a structured evaluation rubric for each exercise that defines specific criteria aligned with job requirements. Have multiple interviewers evaluate the candidate independently before discussing their observations. Focus feedback and evaluation on observable behaviors and outcomes rather than subjective impressions or cultural fit.

Solution Engineers are critical to your sales success, serving as trusted technical advisors who can translate your product's capabilities into customer value. By incorporating these work samples into your hiring process, you'll be able to identify candidates who not only possess the necessary technical knowledge but can also apply it effectively in customer-facing situations.

For more resources to improve your hiring process, check out Yardstick's AI Job Description Generator, AI Interview Question Generator, and AI Interview Guide Generator.

Ready to build a complete interview guide for Solution Engineers? Sign up for a free Yardstick account