When hiring software engineers remotely in Latin America, you want to minimize risk and maximize confidence. You want to know not just that a candidate can code, but that they can work with your team, communicate asynchronously, and ship real features. That’s where work tests come in.

Work tests—short trial projects or temporary engagements—have become one of the most powerful tools we use at Silver.dev to evaluate remote engineers. But while they offer huge benefits, they also come with real tradeoffs that companies must understand before using them.

In this article, I’ll explain when, why, and how to use work tests in your remote hiring process in LatAm, and what you should watch out for.

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What Is a Work Test?

A work test (sometimes called a work trial) is a short-term collaboration, usually between 2 to 5 days, where a candidate joins your team in a simulated or actual work environment. They take on scoped tasks, attend standups, and communicate with your team, ideally working full time or close to it.

It’s a powerful way to simulate the real experience of working together. Unlike live coding or whiteboard sessions, work tests show you how a candidate performs in the actual flow of work: dealing with your stack, your tooling, your communication style.

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Why Work Tests Are Great

1. They Mitigate Risk on Both Sides

Work tests reduce the guesswork. You get to see the candidate in action. They get to experience your culture and codebase. This mutual trial reduces the chance of poor hires or misaligned expectations.

2. They Evaluate Real Work

Work tests assess practical skills beyond coding—self-organization, async communication, comfort with your stack. You learn whether this person can actually ship within your context.

3. They Help Sell the Offer

When work tests involve visits to a physical office or hybrid setup, the candidate bonds with the team. Sharing coffee, chatting informally, and pairing on tasks build trust. It makes the offer conversation easier and more human.

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Why Work Tests Can Be Painful

For all their upsides, work tests are not easy to run. Here’s what you need to be ready for:

1. They’re Expensive

You must pay candidates for their time. Not just because it’s fair, but because it sends a message: we value your time and effort. A typical rate is $200–$300/day. Most candidates don’t care about the exact amount—they care that you respect them enough to offer it.

2. They’re Operationally Heavy

You need to:

• Scope a meaningful, completable task
• Provide account access, setup, and credentials
• Assign an onboarding buddy who checks in daily

Candidates are often nervous and don’t want to ask too many questions. If left alone, they can go off-track. An onboarding buddy ensures alignment and unblocks issues before they snowball.

3. They’re Inconvenient for Employed Candidates

This is the biggest drawback of work tests.

For unemployed candidates, work tests are a win: they get paid, get real exposure, and build rapport. But for employed candidates, it’s a logistical nightmare.

• Taking 3-5 days off means burning PTO or lying to their employer.
• They can’t stack multiple work tests at once.
• Planning short notice availability is nearly impossible.

This discourages strong, currently employed engineers from engaging, leading to two major problems:

4. Reduced Talent Pool

By making work tests a requirement, you filter out top-tier candidates who are currently employed—often the best engineers.

5. Adverse Selection

Unemployed candidates are overrepresented in your process, which can unintentionally bias your hiring toward weaker talent.

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Making Work Tests Work: Best Practices

Work tests can be the best interview method—but only when used thoughtfully. Here are our top recommendations:

1. Always Pay Candidates

It’s not about the money. It’s about what it communicates. Paying a fair rate tells candidates you value them. Not paying tells them you don’t. Simple as that.

2. Design a Scope That Fits 1–3 Days

The best work tests are scoped for completion in a couple of days. Avoid deep or high-context work. Aim to simulate one productive day of work, not a week of onboarding.

3. Assign an Onboarding Buddy

Someone from your team must check in regularly to:

• Clarify expectations
• Offer support
• Align on deliverables

This avoids miscommunications and makes the experience much smoother.

4. Offer Weekend-Friendly Alternatives

For employed candidates, consider:

• A Friday + Saturday schedule
• A solo project they can do asynchronously

You won’t capture full collaboration, but you will make the process feasible for stronger, employed candidates.

5. Don’t Rely on Work Tests Alone

Use them as one component in a larger evaluation strategy. Pair them with live coding, take-homes, and behavioral interviews to balance coverage and flexibility.

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When Should You Use Work Tests?

• Great for: unemployed candidates, junior engineers, and when you’re unsure about communication or fit.
• Challenging for: senior engineers with limited availability, engineers with multiple offers.

At Silver.dev, we recommend using work tests selectively—not universally. When used well, they produce unmatched signal. But when used rigidly, they cost you access to great people.

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Final Thoughts

Work tests are the closest thing we have to trying someone before buying. They help both sides de-risk the hiring decision. But they’re costly, logistically tricky, and unintentionally biased toward candidates who have more free time.

If you use work tests, do it with care:

• Pay fairly
• Scope realistically
• Support generously
• Adapt flexibly

And remember: the best hiring strategies don’t just filter for skill. They respect people.