Hiring challenge platform: work sample tests for graduates.

A hiring challenge is a work sample test: candidates work on a real problem from the role, and your people review the result against criteria fixed in advance. On MARA you paste a job description, MARA AI writes the full challenge, and you edit and publish it. Drafts are free, and you pay the subscription, from €67 a month, only while the challenge is live.

Write your first challenge
  • Free drafts, you pay only when it is live
  • Your people evaluate, not the AI
  • A verifiable certificate for everyone who submits

Used at

  • H-FARM College
  • H-ACK
  • CX
  • H-FARM Startup Center

Choose your path

  • Hiring for an open role? Use the challenge as a practical step in your process, for example after the first read of CVs, and send candidates the private link. The prize can be the final interview.
  • Want students to get to know you? Publish the challenge to the MARA student community, or reserve it for a partner university's students. In that case you publish it with the code the university gives you, and students sign in with their university email. When people work in teams over a few days, it is also called a hiring hackathon.

Why does a work sample test tell you more than a CV?

A graduate's CV is short: a degree, an internship, a few courses. Two CVs that look the same can belong to very different people.

A practical assessment shows you what happens when the person faces a real task. You see how they read the problem, which choices they make, how they write and how they deliver. In a team challenge you also see how they work with others.

That is why a work sample test shows the work even of candidates with little experience. You assess the work, not the story about the work.

How does a hiring challenge work on MARA?

  1. 01

    Paste the job description.

    Or describe the problem you want solved.

  2. 02

    Answer a few questions.

    MARA AI asks what matters for the role, then proposes two directions.

  3. 03

    Get the full challenge.

    Story, brief, rules, evaluation criteria, deliverables and timeline. The first draft arrives in a few minutes.

  4. 04

    Edit everything.

    Nothing goes live until you approve it.

  5. 05

    Set the prize.

    You decide it before publishing: an interview, an internship, a day with the team.

  6. 06

    Publish and invite.

    Publish the challenge to the MARA student community, or keep it closed. A closed challenge is reserved for a university's students, who sign in with their university email, or for whoever receives the private link. People take part alone or in teams, as the rules say.

  7. 07

    Collect and review.

    Submissions land in one place, with announcements and Q&A inside the challenge. Your evaluators see them in the workspace and update statuses in the candidates list. If you need to, you export everything to Excel or ZIP.

Who evaluates the candidates?

Your people do, on criteria you set before publishing that stay the same for every participant.

MARA gives no scores, does not rank anyone and makes no hiring recommendations: MARA AI writes the challenge, it does not assess people. Your people enter the workspace, see the submissions and set the statuses in the candidates list. For AI Act obligations in hiring, see the guide on the AI Act and hiring. Check your own case with an adviser.

Where do the candidates come from?

You can publish the challenge to the MARA student community, growing with partner universities, or keep it closed: reserved for a university's students, who sign in with their university email, or for whoever receives the private link. If you publish for a partner university's students, you use the code the university gives you. Anyone who receives the private link can join, so do not post it anywhere else. Send it to applicants to your job post, people you met at an event and referrals. Your people decide: MARA does not select or rank candidates, and today it does not propose candidates. The challenge stays one step in your hiring process.

What do candidates expect?

Candidates want to know what they can get, how much work it takes, how they will be judged and when results come out. Answer before they ask.

  • The prize, written down

    Winning means what the challenge says, nothing more.

  • Proportionate deliverables

    Candidates are not paid, so ask for what fits the time given, not a consulting project. State in the rules who owns the submitted work, before sign-ups open.

  • The same criteria for everyone

    You fix them in advance, participants see them in the challenge and your people apply them.

  • Updates in one place

    Questions and answers are visible to all participants. Results arrive through an announcement in the challenge, each person's updated status and an email notification.

  • Clear team rules

    MARA does not match people: whether people join alone or in teams, and how teams form, is set in the rules you write.

What do candidates get if they don't make it?

MARA issues everyone who submits a verifiable certificate naming the challenge and your company, ready for LinkedIn. Their MARA portfolio keeps the brief, their role in the team, the work submitted and the certificate. The guide on hackathons and challenges on your CV shows candidates how to use the certificate and the portfolio. You can also send individual notes to people who submitted. Participants never pay.

How much does it cost?

You pay the subscription only while a challenge is live.

Drafts

To write and review the challenge before publishing it.

€0

Write a challenge free

Includes

  • MARA AI writes the challenge from a role or a problem
  • You edit brief, criteria, deliverables and timeline
  • No live challenge

Launch

To publish your first challenge.

€67/month

Everything in Drafts, plus

  • 1 live challenge
  • MARA community, a university’s students or private link
  • Workspace and participant submissions
  • Evaluation by your people on criteria set in advance
  • Verifiable certificates for everyone who submits
  • Export to Excel or ZIP

Growth

Recommended

For teams that run several at once.

€109/month

Everything in Launch, plus

  • 3 live challenges at once
  • About €36 a month per challenge, instead of €67
  • Announcements, questions and candidates of every challenge in one place

EnterpriseOn contract

For large companies and programmes with many challenges live at once.

VAT excluded. No publishing fee and no fee per participant. Participants never pay. The price is the same whether 10 or 100 people take part.

Has MARA been used at a real event?

Yes. H-FARM's H-ACK "Robots in Action", a 24-hour hackathon held on 11 and 12 April 2026, ran end to end on MARA: 157 participants, 30 teams, 6 judges. The numbers come from the H-FARM College article. Read the H-ACK case. MARA was born at H-FARM in Roncade, Italy.

The same builder also writes hackathons and business games. Weighing other tools? See the platform comparison. Back to the home page.

Read the H-ACK case

  • 157participants
  • 30teams
  • 6judges

Frequently asked questions.

01Does winning a hiring challenge mean getting hired?

It depends on the prize the company sets before publishing: an interview, an internship, a day with the team. MARA does not hire or select anyone: it is the software behind the challenge. The organizing company decides.

02What do candidates get if they don't make it?

If they submitted, they get the same as the winners: a verifiable certificate for LinkedIn and a portfolio with the brief, their role in the team and the work submitted. MARA issues the certificate, and it names the challenge and the company. The organizer can also send individual notes to people who submitted.

03Does MARA AI decide who goes through?

No. The organizer's people evaluate, on criteria fixed before publishing and the same for everyone. MARA gives no scores, does not rank anyone and does not recommend who to hire.

04Is a hiring challenge free work for candidates?

No, if you write it well: set the prize in advance, keep deliverables in proportion to the role and state in the rules who owns the work. Participants see the rules before they join, and everyone who submits keeps their certificate and portfolio either way.

05How much does a hiring challenge cost on MARA?

You pay the subscription only while the challenge is live: Launch at €67 a month for 1 live challenge, Growth at €109 a month for 3 at once, VAT excluded. Drafts are free and unlimited, and there is no publishing fee. Candidates never pay.

Your next challenge can start today.

Write your challenge in a few minutes. Drafts are free.

Write your first challenge

No commitment. You pay only when the challenge is live.