Effective Work Samples for Evaluating Chief Operating Officer Candidates

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) role is pivotal to an organization's success, serving as the operational backbone that translates strategic vision into executable reality. When hiring for this critical position, traditional interviews alone often fail to reveal a candidate's true capabilities in handling the complex challenges of operational leadership.

Work samples provide a window into how candidates approach real-world scenarios they'll face as your COO. By observing candidates in action—analyzing data, making decisions, solving problems, and demonstrating leadership—you gain invaluable insights that interviews and resumes simply cannot provide. These practical exercises reveal thinking patterns, communication styles, and problem-solving approaches that predict on-the-job performance.

For COO candidates specifically, work samples should evaluate strategic thinking, operational excellence, change management capabilities, collaborative leadership, and decision-making prowess. The exercises should mirror the multifaceted nature of the role, requiring candidates to balance short-term operational needs with long-term strategic objectives.

The following four work samples are designed to comprehensively assess COO candidates across these critical dimensions. Each exercise simulates challenges your future COO will likely encounter, providing a structured yet realistic environment to evaluate their potential contribution to your organization. By implementing these exercises, you'll significantly enhance your ability to identify the candidate who will excel in driving operational excellence and organizational growth.

Activity #1: Operational Turnaround Simulation

This exercise evaluates a candidate's ability to analyze operational inefficiencies, prioritize issues, and develop actionable improvement plans—core responsibilities for any COO. Candidates must demonstrate data analysis skills, strategic thinking, and practical problem-solving while balancing short-term fixes with long-term operational excellence.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a detailed case study of a fictional company with operational challenges (e.g., declining productivity, quality issues, increasing costs, supply chain disruptions).
• Include relevant operational data such as KPIs, financial metrics, organizational charts, and process flows.
• Provide the case materials to candidates 24-48 hours before the interview.
• Allocate 20 minutes for presentation and 15 minutes for Q&A during the interview.
• Ensure the evaluation panel includes the CEO and other relevant executives who would work closely with the COO.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review the provided materials and identify the most critical operational issues.
• Develop a comprehensive 90-day turnaround plan addressing immediate concerns while setting the foundation for long-term operational excellence.
• Prepare a 20-minute presentation outlining your analysis, priorities, and action plan.
• Be prepared to discuss your rationale, implementation approach, and how you would measure success.
• Include resource requirements, timeline, and potential challenges in your plan.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the presentation, provide specific feedback on one strength (e.g., "Your prioritization of issues was excellent") and one area for improvement (e.g., "Consider how you might address potential resistance to change").
• Ask the candidate to spend 5-10 minutes revising their implementation approach based on the feedback.
• Observe how receptive they are to feedback and their ability to adapt their thinking in real-time.

Activity #2: Cross-Functional Leadership Role Play

This exercise assesses the candidate's ability to lead and influence across departments—a critical skill for COOs who must align diverse teams toward common objectives. It evaluates communication style, conflict resolution abilities, and collaborative leadership approach.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario involving a cross-functional initiative facing resistance (e.g., implementing a new ERP system, restructuring departments, or launching a major cost-reduction program).
• Prepare role players to represent department heads with specific concerns and objections (e.g., Sales concerned about customer impact, IT worried about implementation timeline, Finance focused on ROI).
• Brief role players on their characters' personalities, priorities, and specific objections.
• Allocate 30 minutes for the exercise: 5 minutes for candidate preparation and 25 minutes for the role play.

Directions for the Candidate:

• You will lead a meeting with department heads to gain alignment on a critical cross-functional initiative.
• Review the briefing document outlining the initiative, its objectives, and known concerns from various departments.
• Your goal is to address concerns, resolve conflicts, and develop a path forward that maintains the initiative's core objectives while accommodating reasonable adjustments.
• Focus on building consensus while maintaining decision-making authority when necessary.
• Be prepared to demonstrate how you would follow up after the meeting to ensure continued alignment.

Feedback Mechanism:

• After the role play, provide feedback on one strength (e.g., "You effectively acknowledged each stakeholder's concerns") and one area for improvement (e.g., "Consider being more direct when making final decisions").
• Give the candidate 5 minutes to reflect and explain how they would adjust their approach based on the feedback.
• Ask them to demonstrate this adjustment by handling one particularly challenging objection again.

Activity #3: Data-Driven Decision Making Exercise

This exercise evaluates the candidate's ability to analyze complex operational data, identify key insights, and make sound recommendations—essential skills for a COO who must regularly make high-stakes decisions based on imperfect information.

Directions for the Company:

• Prepare a dataset reflecting a realistic operational challenge (e.g., manufacturing efficiency across multiple facilities, customer service metrics across regions, or supply chain performance data).
• Include some inconsistencies, gaps, or conflicting indicators that require judgment and critical thinking.
• Provide context about business objectives and constraints relevant to the decision.
• Allow candidates 60-90 minutes to work with the data before their interview.
• Prepare follow-up questions that probe their decision-making process, not just their conclusion.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Analyze the provided operational data to identify patterns, anomalies, and opportunities for improvement.
• Develop 3-5 key recommendations based on your analysis, considering both short-term impact and long-term strategic implications.
• Prepare to explain your analytical approach, including assumptions made and alternative hypotheses considered.
• Be ready to discuss how you would implement your recommendations, including resource requirements and success metrics.
• Consider potential risks or unintended consequences of your proposed actions.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on one strength (e.g., "Your ability to identify the root cause behind the data anomalies was impressive") and one area for improvement (e.g., "Consider how you might better account for regional differences in your analysis").
• Ask the candidate to revise one of their recommendations based on the feedback.
• Evaluate their ability to incorporate new perspectives while maintaining analytical rigor.

Activity #4: Strategic Resource Allocation Simulation

This exercise assesses the candidate's ability to make difficult trade-offs and align resource allocation with strategic priorities—a fundamental responsibility for COOs who must optimize limited resources across competing needs.

Directions for the Company:

• Create a scenario where the candidate must allocate limited resources (budget, headcount, time) across multiple strategic initiatives.
• Provide background on each initiative, including potential impact, resource requirements, risks, and alignment with company strategy.
• Include constraints that make it impossible to fully fund all initiatives, forcing prioritization decisions.
• Prepare questions that probe the candidate's rationale and how they would manage stakeholder expectations.
• Allow 45-60 minutes for this exercise during the interview.

Directions for the Candidate:

• Review information about multiple strategic initiatives requiring resources beyond what's available.
• Develop a resource allocation plan that optimizes organizational impact while respecting the given constraints.
• Prepare to explain your prioritization framework and the specific trade-offs you chose to make.
• Consider how you would communicate your decisions to stakeholders, especially those whose initiatives received reduced funding.
• Be ready to discuss how you would monitor implementation and adjust allocations if circumstances change.

Feedback Mechanism:

• Provide feedback on one strength (e.g., "Your allocation clearly aligned with the company's strategic priorities") and one area for improvement (e.g., "Consider how you might create more flexibility to adapt as initiatives progress").
• Ask the candidate to revise their approach to one specific initiative based on the feedback.
• Evaluate their ability to maintain strategic focus while incorporating tactical adjustments.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

Each exercise requires approximately 60-90 minutes, including preparation, execution, and feedback. We recommend spreading them across different interview stages rather than attempting multiple exercises in a single session. For senior roles like COO, candidates will understand the need for thorough evaluation.

Should we use all four exercises for every COO candidate?

Not necessarily. Select the exercises most relevant to your organization's current challenges and the specific focus of your COO role. Using two well-chosen exercises often provides sufficient insight while respecting candidates' time. The Operational Turnaround Simulation and either the Cross-Functional Leadership Role Play or Strategic Resource Allocation Simulation form a strong combination for most organizations.

How should we adapt these exercises for internal candidates?

For internal candidates, modify the scenarios to avoid using actual company situations where they might have insider knowledge. Alternatively, ask them to address a known challenge but from the perspective of having full COO authority, which might differ from their current role's perspective.

What if candidates ask to use their own tools or frameworks during the exercises?

This should generally be encouraged, as it shows initiative and comfort with their own working methods. Provide basic tools (spreadsheets, presentation software, whiteboarding capabilities), but allow candidates to use their preferred approaches. Their choice of tools and frameworks often provides additional insight into their working style.

How do we ensure consistency in evaluation across different candidates?

Develop a structured scoring rubric for each exercise that aligns with the key competencies for your COO role. Have the same evaluation panel assess all candidates whenever possible. Document specific observations rather than just impressions, and conduct a thorough debrief after each candidate completes the exercises.

What if a candidate performs poorly on one exercise but excels at others?

Consider which exercise most closely aligns with the critical challenges your COO will face immediately upon joining. Strong performance in that area might outweigh weaknesses in others. Also, consider whether the candidate's strengths complement the existing executive team's capabilities.

The hiring process for your next COO deserves the same strategic approach and operational excellence that you expect from the role itself. These work samples provide a structured yet flexible framework to evaluate candidates beyond traditional interviews, revealing how they think, lead, and execute in scenarios relevant to your organization's needs.

For more comprehensive hiring resources, explore Yardstick's suite of AI-powered tools, including our job description generator, interview question generator, and interview guide generator. You can also review our complete Chief Operating Officer job description for additional insights into structuring this critical role.

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