But hands-on testing is not appropriate for someone senior.

When Musk launched SpaceX, he recruited Tom Mueller - an experienced rocker engineer. Musk did not give Mueller a hands-on test.

Also, be careful about testing people in "real time" - some people freeze up when being watched.

There are also people who are experimentalists and others who are theorists. We need both. Einstein was a theorist - he would have failed a hands-on test. But there need to be people who can think things through deeply and be highly analytical - they are often not the hands-on type.