Writing Assessment for In-House Job? Forum

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Anonymous User
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Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Writing Assessment for In-House Job?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Oct 25, 2019 10:42 am

Hi All,

Anyone asked to conduct a writing assessment as part of the interview process for in-house? Currently interviewing for a junior to midlevel role at a tech company, and they've asked me to complete one.

Any tips on how to prepare, or what they're looking for? Assume this is "closed-book", but honestly not sure- any advice on how to approach this? Lastly, are these typically asked for towards the end of the process, or is this just another gate-keeping exercise?

Thought I was done with "tests" but I guess not...

Thanks!

Anonymous User
Posts: 428115
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Writing Assessment for In-House Job?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:16 pm

Is this Amazon?

Anonymous User
Posts: 428115
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Writing Assessment for In-House Job?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:36 pm

I think they are fairly common for tech companies nowadays. In general, I think people take them seriously. I did one for Uber and a close friend did one for Amazon. I've also heard that Facebook does them. They usually come right before the final round. Amazon told my friend she did a great job on her writing assessment and that was the reason they brought her in. Uber didn't review beforehand, but ambushed me with a 1 hour panel interview at my callback where I was expected to present my written exercise to a couple of people in the legal department, which was fun /s.

They are not closed book. Consult whatever sources you can without breaching ethical standards of confidentiality, etc.

tl;dr - i wouldn't half ass it, because it does seem to be an important part of the process.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428115
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Writing Assessment for In-House Job?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:09 pm

Anonymous User wrote:I think they are fairly common for tech companies nowadays. In general, I think people take them seriously. I did one for Uber and a close friend did one for Amazon. I've also heard that Facebook does them. They usually come right before the final round. Amazon told my friend she did a great job on her writing assessment and that was the reason they brought her in. Uber didn't review beforehand, but ambushed me with a 1 hour panel interview at my callback where I was expected to present my written exercise to a couple of people in the legal department, which was fun /s.

They are not closed book. Consult whatever sources you can without breaching ethical standards of confidentiality, etc.

tl;dr - i wouldn't half ass it, because it does seem to be an important part of the process.
This is super helpful, thanks! Don’t want to specify the company for obvious reasons (was wary of even mentioning tech).

Could you provide any insight on what to expect for the actual assignment? Are they goin to ask me to draft a short contract or mark up an agreement? Obv position specific, but can you weigh in on the focus being on subject matter knowledge v. Judgment/critical thinking?

Anonymous User
Posts: 428115
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Writing Assessment for In-House Job?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Oct 25, 2019 5:19 pm

it really just depends. I've heard of people doing issue spotters (look at a website and spot all the issues with clickwrap, privacy, etc), drafting commerical agreements, and putting together step plans for hypothetical transactions. Overall, they are more interested in your thinking, but having familiarity with the legal issues is obviously a huge plus.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428115
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Writing Assessment for In-House Job?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:36 am

I think it depends. I think it is fairly normal to do either a presentation or markup of a contract. I had to do both at a late stage pre-ipo company I interviewed for. Company created a 1 paragraph hypo situation and asked that I create a presentation and present on legal issues related to that situation. In addition, had to do a markup of an agreement. At the group interview stage the 5 other lawyers asked me questions and hypo situations related to what I included in my presentation.

Another big tech company I had an interview with went a different route and essentially had a 45 min session asking me various hypos that involved more about my thought process of how I would handle certain situation. i.e. gave me a short verbal hypo and asked me what legal issues I see.

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