How do we design Candidate Challenges?

​It depends on the position...

Here are some sample activities:

Marketing
● Branding Redesign ●
● Social Media Strategy/Optimization ●
● User/Customer Acquisition Strategy Development & Testing ●


Business Development
● New Business Opportunity Assessment ●
● New Product/Service Development ●
● Customer Discovery/Interviewing ●


Sales
● Market Testing ●
● Lead Generation ●
● Customer Interviewing/Surveying ●


Market Research
● Competition Due Diligence ●
● Industry Best Practices ●
● Partnership Opportunities ●


Public Relations/Communications
● PR Strategy Consulting ●
● Communications Planning ●
● Messaging ●
Product
● User Testing/Interviewing ●
● Product Mapping ●
● Product Development/Extension ●


Supply Chain Management
● Sourcing & Distribution Analysis ●
● Inventory Management ●
● Optimization ●


Financial Analysis
● Growth Analysis ●
● Valuations Assessment ●
● Financial Performance Analysis​ ●
​
Data & Analytics
● Data Scrubbing ●
● Data Synthesis & Visualization ●
● Data Organization/Reorganization ●


Internet Technology & Development
● MVP Design & User Testing ●
● Systems Integration ●
● Technology Roadmap Planning ●

Sample Challenges:

COMPANY INFORMATION:
Name: Study Abroad Apartments
Size: 5-10 Employees 
Location: New York, NY
Industry: Hospitality (Software)

Overview:
​Study Abroad Apartments (SAA) is the leading platform for students and young professionals to book mid-term accommodations overseas. The firm's goal is to change the way millions of students, interns, and young professionals find accommodations abroad. Its multi-sided online marketplace enables landlords and agencies to rent apartments within the mid-to-long-term student market, in a secure, transparent, and convenient way.  ​


POSITION DETAILS:
Title: Director of Product
Supervisor: Ryan Blum, CEO & Co-Founder
Overview: The product department at SAA works on the technology the powers their marketplace. In addition to that, SAA is looking for help with product development, road mapping, and overall strategy as they plan to enter different industry verticals. SAA plans to adapt their housing platform to address other markets that are most similar to their mid-term abroad leasing niche. The company has some ideas of where to go, but they need your help.

CANDIDATE CHALLENGE:
Project Overview:
SAA can pursue a variety of different growth options. Since they can leverage their existing technology, resources, and best practices in other verticals, SAA needs help exploring the opportunities associated with different business development strategies.

The company already knows they are trying to combat its small addressable market size; they are looking to analyze the opportunities surrounding horizontal growth—i.e., repurposing their existing model outside of their core demographic to date.​

Please assume the role of SAA's Chairman. In a memo addressed to the executive team, please consider the following questions (4 pages or less): 

1. Analyze SAA's current platform and inventory. How would you look to improve the product over the next 3 months, 6 months, 1 year? How do you prioritize particular features?

2. Given SAA's current technology, team, and core competencies, where do you think it makes the most sense for them to go from a business development perspective?

3. If SAA were to follow your advice and enter the market detailed above, how will they need to adapt the product and overall strategy to be successful? How can they get started?