The Proof Model

A Proof is the assessment template at the centre of every Concert. It defines how many stages competing candidates work through, what they must deliver at each stage, and how much they are compensated.

1name: Senior Product Designer — Take-Home Assessment
2type: custom
3staff_note: >
4  Two-stage proof. Stage 1 screens for visual craft and brief-reading.
5  Stage 2 tests systems thinking and stakeholder communication.
6
7stages:
8  "1":
9    name: Visual Design Sample
10    compensation: 120
11    content_format: figma
12    nda_required: false
13    description: >
14      Candidate designs a single feature screen for a fictional B2B SaaS product.
15    guidelines: |
16      Design a single dashboard screen for a fictional project-management tool
17      called "Orbit." The screen should show a list of active projects with
18      status indicators, due dates, and an owner avatar.
19
20      - Use a light-mode color palette of your choosing.
21      - Include at least one data visualization element (chart, progress bar, etc.).
22
23      Time estimate: 3 hours. You will be compensated $120 upon delivery
24      regardless of outcome.
25
26  "2":
27    name: Design Critique & Rationale
28    compensation: 80
29    content_format: google_docs
30    nda_required: false
31    description: >
32      Candidate reviews a provided screenshot of an existing product and
33      writes a structured design critique.
34    guidelines: |
35      You will be given a screenshot of a real, anonymized enterprise dashboard.
36      Write a structured critique covering:
37
38      1. Hierarchy & Scannability — what works and what does not.
39      2. One concrete layout change you would make and why.
40      3. How you would validate that change with users before shipping it.
41
42      Format: Google Doc, 400–600 words, no images required.
43      Time estimate: 2 hours. You will be compensated $80 upon delivery.
44

What the fields mean

name

A human-readable label for the Proof, typically mirroring the job function or related skills.

staff_note

A private memo for your hiring team — describe the intent of the assessment, any quirks in the brief, or context that helps reviewers interpret deliverables consistently. Candidates never see this field.

Inside each stage

compensation

The fixed fee in USD paid to every candidate who submits a deliverable for this stage, regardless of quality or hiring outcome. The platform minimum is $40 per estimated hour. Pudding processes compensation immediately upon delivery, and the candidate receives 100% of the payment promised.

content_format

The expected delivery medium. Pudding uses this to collect candidate submissions and share replicas with hiring teams. Supported formats are github, google_docs, google_slides, figma, dropbox, and notion. Support for gemini, claude, and chatgpt is in development.

guidelines

The brief given to candidates verbatim. This is the most important field in a Proof. Before a Concert can launch, Pudding's AI reviewer scans every stage's guidelines across six criteria:

Suspicious content — malicious, deceptive, or illegal material.

Misclassification risk — mandating specific working hours, referencing internal systems, requiring employer-owned tooling, or setting hard deadlines.

Unreasonable pay — compensation that works out below the platform minimum hourly rate based on the expected effort.

Invalid exchange — directing candidates to submit deliverables to an outside contact or system, or to make contact with anyone.

Inactionable briefs — guidelines a reasonable professional could not interpret or act on.

PII requests — asking candidates for a résumé, photograph, social media profiles, or other personal details.

nda_required

When true, candidates are presented with a non-disclosure agreement before accessing the guidelines for that stage. Use this only when the the nature of the stage is sensitive.