Work trials that predict job performance — automatically.
Resumes tell you what a candidate claims. Interviews tell you how they talk. A work trial shows you what they can actually do. Appli generates realistic, role-specific work trials and scores them for you — so you hire on evidence, not impressions.
What is a work trial?
A work trial is a short, realistic simulation of the job itself. Rather than asking a candidate to describe their experience, it asks them to do a representative slice of the actual work — then evaluates the result. It is the difference between reading about a driver and watching them drive.
Traditional hiring runs on proxies. A resume is a self-written summary. An interview rewards people who present well under pressure. Both are easy to embellish and hard to compare fairly across candidates.
A work trial replaces the proxy with the real thing: an actual sample of a candidate's work, plus a read on how they operate inside a team. Appli automates the entire loop — generating the trial, running it, and scoring it — so every applicant is measured on the same, job-relevant evidence.
- Measures real output, not self-reported claims
- Scores every candidate on the same criteria
- Far harder to game than a resume or interview
of hiring failures come down to attitude and behaviour — coachability, temperament, motivation — not a lack of technical skill. Those are exactly the things a resume can't show and an interview struggles to measure.
Leadership IQ, “Why New Hires Fail” — a study of 20,000+ new hires. SourceHow automated work trials work
Paste one link. Appli handles sourcing, the trial, and the scoring — and hands you a ranked shortlist.
Paste your job link
Drop your Appli job link into any posting — LinkedIn, Indeed, or wherever you advertise the role.
Candidates complete a work trial
Applicants are taken through a realistic, role-specific simulation that captures a real sample of their work and behaviour.
You get a ranked shortlist
Appli's behavioural AI scores every trial against your criteria and returns the strongest candidates for your review.
What a work trial actually measures
More than a score — a behavioural picture of how someone will perform on the job.
Real work output
An actual sample of the candidate's work on a task representative of the role — not a description of past work.
Team behaviour
How a candidate communicates and operates inside a team — signals that only show up in a realistic, collaborative setting.
Predictive traits
Our behavioural AI model predicts dozens of traits tied to performance — including leadership, commitment, and intelligence.
Work trial vs. resume vs. interview
The same candidate looks very different depending on how you evaluate them.
| What it reveals | Resume | Interview | Appli Work Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| A real sample of the work | — | — | ✓ |
| On-the-job behaviour | — | Partial | ✓ |
| Resistant to embellishment | — | — | ✓ |
| Consistent, comparable scoring | — | Rarely | ✓ |
| Time you spend per candidate | Minutes | Hours | Zero — it's automated |
Work trial FAQ
What is a work trial?
A work trial is a short, realistic simulation of the actual job a candidate is applying for. Instead of relying on what a candidate says about themselves in a resume or interview, a work trial produces a real sample of their work and shows how they behave in a team context — a far more accurate signal of on-the-job performance. Appli generates and scores these work trials automatically.
How is an automated work trial different from a resume or interview?
Resumes and interviews measure how well a candidate can describe their experience. A work trial measures what a candidate can actually do. Because it captures real output and behaviour rather than self-reported claims, it is much harder to embellish and gives a more consistent, comparable signal across every applicant.
How does Appli score a work trial?
Appli's behavioural AI model evaluates the candidate's actual work and behaviour against the role's criteria, predicting dozens of traits relevant to job performance — including leadership, commitment, and intelligence — then returns a ranked shortlist of the strongest candidates.
Which roles are work trials good for?
Automated work trials work well for sales, technical, and operational roles — any position where seeing a real sample of a candidate's work predicts success better than a resume screen or a conversation.
How do I launch a work trial?
You paste your Appli job link into any job posting — LinkedIn, Indeed, or anywhere you advertise the role. Candidates who apply are taken through the automated work trial, and Appli handles sourcing, screening, and scoring, returning the best candidates for your review.