Cursor's talent chief: Work trials fail when they take, not give

"For a lot of companies, it's hard to think of a better way than doing side-by-side real work to get those signals," Ward said.

The AI coding company's work trials come as competition for top AI talent has raised the stakes in hiring. Ward said Cursor sees recruiting as a companywide effort, built around identifying a small group of standout candidates and cultivating them over time, rather than filtering a large volume of applicants through a standard interview funnel.

Cursor's CEO, Michael Truell, has described a similarly intensive approach. He said the startup flew across the world to persuade some engineers who had initially turned it down and even invented dinners with researchers to revive conversations, Business Insider previously reported.

Cursor has also used a two-day on-site work trial for engineering and design candidates, during which applicants work from a frozen version of its codebase and spend time with the team. Truell said the process helps the company assess both technical skill and whether the candidate and company want to work together.

Echoing Truell's point, Ward said the payoff extends beyond testing technical competence. "Imagine the amount of core values and collaboration and other things you could get over a stretch of time," he said, "that could be arguably more important than the specific technical skill."