How to prepare for a hiring challenge.

It's a work sample test: you take a real problem from the role and hand in a result, such as an analysis, a plan, a slide deck or code. The organizer's people review it against criteria fixed before the challenge was published, the same for everyone. On MARA you join a public challenge, visible to the MARA student community, or a closed one. A closed challenge is reserved for a university's students, who sign in with their university email, or for whoever receives the private link. You pay nothing. MARA AI helps the company write the challenge, but MARA gives no scores and doesn't decide who goes through. The company's side is explained on the hiring challenge page.

On day one, before you open a document, run six checks.

1. Read the brief twice. First to understand the problem, then to mark the format, the page or time limits and the deadline with its time and time zone. Then try to say in one sentence what you'll hand in: if the main idea doesn't fit in one sentence, the scope is too wide.
2. Read the judging criteria. On MARA the rules and criteria are written into the challenge, and once it's published the criteria stay fixed and the same for everyone. Turn each criterion into a question your submission has to answer, and give more hours to the criteria that carry more weight.
3. Count your real hours. Take out exams, classes and work shifts up to the deadline: what's left is your time. Aim for a minimum version, complete in every part, about two-thirds of the way through: in the two-week plan below, that's day 9.
4. Decide: alone or in a team. The challenge says what's allowed. MARA does not match people: if the rules say you form your own team, look early, ideally among people you've worked with before. With people you don't know, check skills early: ask to see past work or suggest a small first task to do together. On day one, write down roles and internal deadlines with your team.
5. Check the AI rules. AI can be banned, allowed if declared or allowed freely. If the rules are silent, ask before you use it.
6. Read the prize and who owns the work. The prize is whatever the challenge says. Ownership is covered below. Decide now what goes into your submission, not the night before the deadline.

• Ask in the Q&A. Every challenge on MARA has its own Q&A and announcements. Questions and answers are visible to all participants, so don't give your idea away there. Ask early and be specific: "Does the 10-slide limit include the cover?" Before you ask, check the announcements: the answer may already be there.
• Keep a decision log. For each decision, write one line: date, choice, reason, the option you dropped. You'll use it in your submission, in the interview and on your CV.
• Check in halfway. Are you still answering the question in the brief? Set one or two checkpoints during the work, so problems surface early.
• Submit before the deadline. Set your own deadline 24 hours before the official one: the buffer covers files that won't upload and broken links.

Four worries participants have, and for each one what's in your hands and what isn't: teammates who vanish, judging nobody explains, results that never arrive and unpaid work.

Reviewers have little time for each submission and the criteria sheet next to them. Write for someone who wasn't with you while you worked: they need to understand the problem, the proposal and your choices without having to ask you anything. Start from this structure and fit it to the required format:

1. Summary in 5 lines: the problem as you understood it, what you propose, why, what it takes to start
2. One section per criterion, with the same name the challenge uses
3. Your choices: 2-3 decisions, with the option you dropped and why
4. Assumptions and limits: what you assumed, which data was missing
5. Use of AI: tools and what you checked yourself, if the rules ask you to declare it
6. Attachments: only the ones the brief asks for

Before you upload, three checks:

• Stay within the limits. If the brief asks for 10 slides, hand in 10 slides.
• Keep text as text. In a PDF the text must be selectable, and every link must open without asking for a login.
• Have someone who hasn't seen the brief read your summary. If after five minutes they can't say what you propose, rewrite it.

If there's a final presentation, follow the outline below and rehearse the timing. Go for clarity over polish: state the limits and be ready to explain how you built the work, including your use of AI if the rules allow it.

If the organizer gives you an outline, follow it. If not, use these six points, in this order, within your time:

1. Problem: how you understood it, in one sentence.
2. Approach: what you chose and which option you dropped.
3. What it actually does: show what works today, not what it will do.
4. Evidence: a data point, a test or feedback that backs it.
5. Limits: what's missing and what you didn't check.
6. Next step: what it takes to move forward.

Upload your submission before the demo, so reviewers can read it first. On timing and format, only the answers in announcements and the Q&A count.

A made-up example, only to show the format:

Problem: people shopping on their phones drop the cart at payment.
Approach: a shorter payment form; we dropped a new app, too long to build.
What it actually does: a clickable prototype with three steps instead of six.
Evidence: five people tried it, four finished without help.
Limits: small test, no real payments.
Next step: a two-week test with real customers.

• The organizer's people review your work. They use the published criteria. MARA gives no scores, does not rank anyone and doesn't recommend who to hire.
• Results reach you in three ways. An announcement in the challenge, your updated status and an email notification. The organizer sets the date: MARA can't promise you one.
• Feedback depends on the organizer. On MARA the organizer can send individual notes to people who submitted, but it isn't automatic.
• The prize is what the challenge says. For example an interview, an internship or a day with the team. Winning means what's written there, nothing more: MARA does not hire or select anyone.
• You get a verifiable certificate, even if you don't make it. MARA issues it with the name of the challenge and the company. It has a verification link that anyone can open, you can add it to LinkedIn, it's free and you need no crypto wallet.
• Your MARA portfolio. It keeps, for each challenge, the brief, your role in the team, the work you submitted and the certificate. If the rules ask for confidentiality or give the rights to the company, check the challenge rules.

Ownership of the work is set in the challenge rules, which you see before you join: read that part before you accept them. You keep the certificate and the portfolio. If the rules give the rights to the company or ask for confidentiality, check the challenge rules and choose carefully what goes into your submission:

• don't include a business idea, a personal project or code you want to use elsewhere;
• don't use data or documents that aren't yours, for example from another employer or a client;
• if you're unsure about a specific case, ask in the Q&A before you submit, without giving your idea away: everyone sees the answers.

The same goes for a challenge outside MARA: read the intellectual property section of its rules before you sign up.

Your decision log becomes the "Choice" line of your CV entry and your answer to "what did you decide?" The template, an example and a two-minute interview answer are in the guide to hackathons and challenges on your CV. The LinkedIn steps are on the certificates page. Write the entry right after you submit, while you still remember why you chose what you did, and keep the log for yourself, without the company's confidential data.

Copy it into your notes and move the days if the challenge is longer or shorter.

PERSONAL PLAN · 2-WEEK CHALLENGE
Challenge: [name] · Organizer: [company]
Official deadline: [day, time, time zone] · My deadline: [24 hours earlier]
Format: [alone / team of N] · AI: [banned / declare it / open]

DAY 1
[ ] Read the brief, rules, criteria and timeline, twice
[ ] Write in one sentence what I'll hand in
[ ] Read the prize and ownership terms; decide what to leave out
[ ] Mark my free hours up to the deadline

DAYS 2-3
[ ] Ask my first questions in the Q&A
[ ] If in a team: roles, channel and internal deadlines in writing
[ ] Start the decision log (date, choice, reason, option dropped)

DAYS 4-9
[ ] Work first on the criteria with the most weight
[ ] Day 7: halfway check against the brief and criteria
[ ] Day 9: minimum version, complete in every part

DAYS 10-12
[ ] Write the 5-line summary and one section per criterion
[ ] Reread with the criteria sheet next to me
[ ] Have someone who hasn't seen the brief read the summary
[ ] If AI must be declared, write the note

DAY 13
[ ] Submit by my deadline
[ ] Check files, format, limits and links from another browser window

DAY 14
[ ] Buffer for surprises; official deadline at [time]

AFTER SUBMITTING
[ ] Follow announcements, my status and email for results
[ ] Add the certificate to LinkedIn
[ ] Write the CV entry from the decision log

Terms from the brief you don't know, such as rubric, track or shortlist, are explained in the glossary. More answers for participants are in the FAQ; for everything else, start from the home page.