Effective Work Sample Exercises for Hiring an IT Manager

The IT Manager role is pivotal to an organization's operational success and technological advancement. This leadership position requires a unique blend of technical expertise, strategic vision, and people management skills. Traditional interviews often fail to reveal how candidates will actually perform in these multifaceted responsibilities, which is why practical work samples are essential for making informed hiring decisions.

Work samples provide a window into how candidates approach real-world challenges they'll face in the role. For IT Managers, these exercises should evaluate technical knowledge, leadership capabilities, strategic thinking, and crisis management skills. By observing candidates in action, hiring teams can assess not just what they know, but how they apply that knowledge in practical situations.

The cost of a poor IT Manager hire can be substantial—from system failures and security breaches to team dysfunction and project delays. Implementing targeted work samples significantly reduces this risk by revealing candidates' actual capabilities rather than relying solely on self-reported experience or theoretical knowledge.

Additionally, these exercises demonstrate to top-tier candidates that your organization values competence and takes a thoughtful approach to building its technology leadership team. High-quality candidates appreciate rigorous evaluation processes that allow them to showcase their skills in meaningful ways.

The following four work sample activities are designed to comprehensively evaluate IT Manager candidates across the key competencies required for success in this critical role.

Activity #1: Disaster Recovery Planning Exercise

This exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to develop strategic plans that ensure business continuity during critical system failures—a fundamental responsibility for any IT Manager.

Directions for the Company:

• Provide the candidate with a fictional but realistic scenario about your company's IT infrastructure, including key systems, data repositories, and business-critical applications.
• Include information about the company size, industry, regulatory requirements, and business priorities.
• Allow candidates 24-48 hours to prepare their disaster recovery plan before the interview.
• During the interview, give them 15-20 minutes to present their plan, followed by 10-15 minutes of questions.
• Prepare specific questions that probe their thought process, such as "How did you prioritize which systems to recover first?" and "What factors influenced your backup strategy recommendations?"

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided company information and develop a comprehensive disaster recovery plan that addresses potential system failures or data loss scenarios.
• Your plan should include:
• Risk assessment and prioritization of critical systems
• Recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs)
• Backup strategies and technologies
• Testing procedures for the recovery plan
• Communication protocols during an incident
• Budget considerations and resource requirements
• Prepare a 15-20 minute presentation of your plan, focusing on your approach and rationale rather than technical minutiae.
• Be prepared to answer questions about your decision-making process and how you would adapt the plan to changing circumstances.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, provide one specific aspect of the plan that was particularly strong or well-reasoned.
• Then offer one area where the plan could be improved or a consideration that was overlooked.
• Ask the candidate to take 5 minutes to revise that portion of their plan based on the feedback, explaining their new approach and rationale.
• Observe how receptively they incorporate the feedback and their ability to adapt their thinking.

Activity #2: IT Budget and Resource Allocation Simulation

This exercise assesses the candidate's ability to make strategic decisions about technology investments and resource allocation—critical skills for managing IT departments effectively.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a fictional IT budget scenario with constraints and competing priorities (e.g., $X million budget with needs for infrastructure upgrades, security improvements, new business initiatives, and ongoing maintenance).
• Include information about current pain points, business goals, and future growth plans.
• Provide a spreadsheet template for the candidate to complete with their proposed allocations.
• Allow candidates to prepare their budget allocation plan before the interview or give them 30 minutes during the interview process to complete it.
• Prepare questions that probe their decision-making process and ability to align IT spending with business objectives.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided budget constraints and organizational needs.
• Create a proposed budget allocation that addresses the most critical needs while balancing short-term requirements and long-term strategic goals.
• For each major allocation, provide a brief justification explaining:
• Why this investment is necessary
• Expected business impact or ROI
• Risks of not making this investment
• Potential alternatives considered
• Be prepared to discuss how you would adjust your plan if the budget were reduced by 20% or if a new urgent priority emerged mid-year.
• Consider both technical necessities and business value in your decision-making.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Highlight one particularly strategic or well-justified allocation decision the candidate made.
• Identify one area where their allocation might create risk or miss an opportunity.
• Ask the candidate to revise their budget based on this feedback, explaining how they would reallocate resources to address the concern while maintaining their overall strategy.
• Evaluate their flexibility, business acumen, and ability to make difficult trade-offs.

Activity #3: Technical Team Leadership Role Play

This exercise evaluates the candidate's leadership style, communication skills, and ability to manage technical team dynamics—essential for an IT Manager's success.

Directions for the Company:

• Develop a scenario involving a challenging team situation, such as:
• A team member consistently missing deadlines on a critical project
• Conflict between two technical specialists with different approaches
• A talented but difficult employee creating team morale issues
• A team struggling with a new technology implementation
• Select an experienced IT leader or HR professional to play the role of the team member(s).
• Provide the candidate with basic background information about the scenario and team dynamics 30 minutes before the role play.
• The role play should last 15-20 minutes, followed by a debrief discussion.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the scenario information provided and prepare for a one-on-one or team meeting to address the situation.
• During the role play, demonstrate your leadership approach by:
• Asking clarifying questions to understand the root causes
• Actively listening to team member concerns
• Providing clear guidance and expectations
• Collaboratively developing solutions
• Balancing technical needs with people management
• Your goal is to improve the situation while maintaining team cohesion and project progress.
• Be authentic in your approach—this exercise is designed to see your natural leadership style.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, provide feedback on one aspect of their leadership approach that was particularly effective.
• Identify one area where a different approach might have been more effective.
• Ask the candidate to describe how they would adjust their approach based on this feedback if they had another conversation with the team member(s).
• Evaluate their self-awareness, adaptability, and ability to incorporate feedback into their leadership style.

Activity #4: Security Incident Response Simulation

This exercise assesses the candidate's technical knowledge, crisis management abilities, and decision-making under pressure—critical skills for protecting organizational assets.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a detailed scenario of a cybersecurity incident, such as a ransomware attack, data breach, or advanced persistent threat.
• Include specific technical details about the systems affected, initial detection methods, and available resources.
• Provide the scenario to the candidate and give them 15-20 minutes to develop an initial response plan.
• During the exercise, introduce new information or complications at set intervals to test adaptability.
• Have a technical team member available to answer questions about the environment if needed.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the security incident scenario and quickly develop an initial response strategy.
• Your response should address:
• Immediate containment actions to prevent further damage
• Investigation steps to understand the scope and nature of the incident
• Communication plan for stakeholders (executives, employees, customers, regulators)
• Recovery procedures to restore normal operations
• Documentation and evidence preservation for potential legal proceedings
• As new information becomes available during the exercise, adapt your plan accordingly.
• Balance technical response with business impact considerations.
• Be prepared to explain your decision-making process and prioritization choices.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on one particularly effective element of their incident response approach.
• Identify one area where their response could be strengthened or a consideration they missed.
• Ask the candidate to revise their approach to that specific element based on the feedback.
• Evaluate their technical knowledge, ability to make decisions with incomplete information, and how they balance urgency with thoroughness.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should we allocate for these work sample exercises?

Each exercise should take approximately 45-60 minutes, including preparation time, the activity itself, feedback, and discussion. For the disaster recovery planning exercise, you should allow candidates 1-2 days of preparation time before the interview.

Should we use all four exercises for every candidate?

Not necessarily. Select the 1-2 exercises most relevant to your specific IT environment and organizational needs. Using too many work samples can make the interview process unnecessarily lengthy and may deter top candidates.

How should we evaluate candidates' performance on these exercises?

Create a structured scorecard for each exercise that aligns with the key competencies in your job description. Rate candidates on both technical accuracy and soft skills like communication, adaptability, and leadership. Have multiple evaluators independently score the exercises before discussing.

What if a candidate has limited experience with a specific technology in our environment?

Focus your evaluation on their problem-solving approach and learning agility rather than specific technical knowledge. Strong candidates will ask clarifying questions, leverage their transferable knowledge, and acknowledge areas where they would need to learn more.

How can we make these exercises fair for internal and external candidates?

Ensure that the scenarios and information provided don't give internal candidates an unfair advantage. Use fictional but realistic scenarios that test universal IT management skills rather than specific knowledge of your environment.

Should we compensate candidates for the time spent on preparation?

For exercises requiring significant preparation time (like the disaster recovery plan), consider offering compensation, especially for senior-level positions. This demonstrates respect for candidates' time and expertise while ensuring you get their best work.

Finding the right IT Manager is crucial for maintaining robust technology operations and driving digital transformation initiatives. These work sample exercises provide valuable insights into how candidates will perform in this multifaceted role, helping you identify those with the right blend of technical expertise, leadership skills, and strategic thinking.

For more comprehensive hiring resources, check out Yardstick's suite of AI-powered tools, including our AI Job Description Generator, AI Interview Question Generator, and AI Interview Guide Generator. These tools can help you create a structured, effective hiring process for IT Manager roles and other critical positions within your organization. You can also find more information about IT Manager roles in our job description guide.

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