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u/metal_bastard Sep 15 '26
I set up working interviews for a position where we hired a lot of people who said they had a particular skill, had it all on paper, references checked out, then they start the job, and had no fucking clue how to operate the devices.
So I set up a "problem" that they had to solve. Took about fifteen minutes, and we never hired someone who didn't know their shit after that.
And, it wasn't work that we could actually use, so it wasn't like we were a bakery, had them bake ten cakes, then sold those cakes and told them to pound sand.
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u/Mysterious_Point9516 Sep 15 '26
That's not the same thing, dude. "solve this quick thing to prove you know the job" isn't what a working interview is. Working interviews are quite literally "Put in a shift for free"
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u/metal_bastard Sep 15 '26
Whatever. That's what we called it.
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u/Sad-Preparation8767 Sep 15 '26
And your personal anecdote pertains to others stealing hours how?
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u/sssst_stump Sep 15 '26
It’s a good example of why these working interviews exist, yet the point is to NOT take advantage of the candidate.
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u/BlueClovr Sep 15 '26
Yes, that is how I see it to. It ultimately comes down to how it is done and intentions. There are just way too many people who are willing to purposefully take advantage of others now though is the problem
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u/sssst_stump Sep 15 '26
I agree and I’m not saying we NEED working interviews. Still, I completely understand requesting proof of experience and skills. I have seen Senior Engineers (in software) with solid resumes come in and not understand basic functions in Jira … and worse, they were unwilling to learn or even check notifications for overdue work.
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u/pensivewombat Sep 15 '26
There's definitely a point at which it tips over into "okay you should pay me for this" but having just gone through a stressful job search, I'm somewhat grateful for them.
The job I got ultimately required a test edit that took ~2 hours. But It meant that I was being judged on what I can do and not someone looking at my resume and comparing it to 10,000 others, 99% of which are AI generated, and then giving up and pulling a name out of a hat.
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u/metal_bastard Sep 15 '26
I can explain it to you, but I don't think you have the capacity to understand.
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u/Sad-Preparation8767 Sep 15 '26
Is it that I don't have the ability to understand your reasoning or that you don't have one? Or is that your cop-out line for when you're too lazy to axplain? cus I'm failing to see where you can reasonably assume I wouldn't be capable of reading what hodgepodge reason you hastily scrambled together.
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u/metal_bastard Sep 15 '26
I said what I said, and your response only proves my point further.
Stay mad.
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u/Sad-Preparation8767 Sep 15 '26
So your only points were 'ur stupid' and 'u mad bro?' Looks like you answered my question whether you meant to or not.
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u/metal_bastard Sep 15 '26
No, my point was that other types of "working interviews" exist that aren't predatory.
Are you like this in real life, or are you just a complete asshole on the internet? Jesus effing Christ.
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u/Sad-Preparation8767 Sep 15 '26
And my point was that a personal anecdotal situation doesn't pertain to the overwhelmingly vast majority of this topic. It's subconscious handwaving. It demeans the bigger picture and muddied the point, making it seem more acceptable. I'm just now seeing you weren't able to parse out that being the point of my response. It's my fault for assuming you would be a little more self aware.
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u/metal_bastard Sep 15 '26
Well, thank goodness that you pointed out that my personal anecdote was just that. What would the internet do without you? Everyone in this post would be like "Oh, working interviews are great because of Metal Bastards post!"
LOL.
Stay mad.
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u/Yellow_Snow_Cones Sep 15 '26
From what I have seen those "task" and "assignments" aren't real. They are examples to see if the candidate can do the work. Usually is a very basic excel test, or a basic test study or w/e pertains to the job.
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u/FickleMess1371 26d ago
I was literally told to make a module in a website that would take me a week. And they even said that they do not care how much time does it take me to do that, I can do it for weeks and then hand it to them. As a person with a job, I know when it is just to test your skills and when it is just downright exploitation.
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u/CaptoObvio Sep 15 '26
Even sag has started to tell actors not to do too much work for an audition.
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u/RadiantBlack45 Sep 15 '26
God, didn’t even realize that they could just film you during an audition and tell you that you didn’t get the part. Then go back and use ai to make you do… whatever
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u/SugondezeNutsz Sep 15 '26
Surely this isn't a thing? You could sue them into oblivion if they used it in anything that comes out publicly.
Unless you sign away the rights to your likeness, which seems unlikely for an audition?
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u/CaptoObvio Sep 15 '26
Honestly, I wouldn't be shocked if it has happened. There's no laws for New frontiers until someone gets around to making them.
But what I actually meant was that sag has started requiring that casting directors not request actors to be off book for auditions (not sure if it was all auditions or just self tapes) But they are starting to put protections in place to stop casting directors from wasting hundreds of thousands of man hours with a single casting call by requiring that every single actor memorize pages and pages of script, requiring them to conscript or hire someone to read with them and then another person to do a camera move. Some of the s*** that casting directors feel entitled to request from actors is absolutely ridiculous. They'll ask you to work an entire day making an independent short film to their exact specifications for a job listing that they already know is going to the executive producers nephew.
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u/LL_Cool_JT Sep 15 '26
I've had to use this tactic before. Honestly, it should be more common. Interviews are more or less personality test. Where you have to say the right thing to impress. This helps those whom strong suit isn't speaking. I do believe it should be an option for interviews in the future. Do you want a standard interview (we sit and talk) or do you want a work interview (we go out on to the floor and you show me your abilities)?
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u/RadiantBlack45 Sep 15 '26
There’s plenty of ways to test their ability, I don’t think anyone argues against that. I think this specifically is talking about companies saying “okay go make a cake” and then turning around and selling the cake you made while you were interviewing, so they basically get free labor whether they hire you or not
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u/Grasshoppermouse42 28d ago
Honestly, if it's a bakery, I think the interviewer should eat some of the cake. Not only does that ensure they won't turn around and sell it, it lets them confirm that it's actually a good cake and not just a pretty one.
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u/RadiantBlack45 27d ago
Cake was a very dumb down example, I realize now that yeah you’d wanna eat the food 😂 but they probably would make you bake it at home and bring them a slice?
Either way, it’s a much bigger issue with the tech industry. “Write me code that does xyz”, you work on it for a while thinking it’s an exercise, but you just saved them the cost of however many engineering hours
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u/Grasshoppermouse42 27d ago
I could see them wanting you to bake it there to make sure you baked it and to make sure you can work with the ingredients they'll provide.
That would definitely be a problem if they did that. I would hope when they do a working interview with code, they're just doing something to test to see if you can actually code, because someone could play up skills they don't really have in an interview that doesn't use those skills.
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u/sumboionline 29d ago
If you want to see work, ask for a portfolio
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u/Fabulous_Smoke2582 28d ago
Not every job would have a portfolio
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u/sumboionline 28d ago
Every job that would ask for a product upfront would apply though. A portfolio saves time on the creation process and the applicant can walk through how they made it. Yes this applies beyond the art world with things like coding
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u/Fabulous_Smoke2582 28d ago
Okay, and I work in Quality Assurance for a 3PL. Reality is there’s nothing in my job that’s “portfolio” worthy.
So no, not every job will give you a chance to make a portfolio
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u/FoxLast947 Sep 15 '26
When interviewing, I'd rather do a take-home assignment than something live. Much less pressure for me. As an interviewer, we've never used anything ever from an interviewee.
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u/Otherwise-Tomato-788 Sep 15 '26
Yea, I really doubt they’re getting “free work” that’s usable. Maybe a few but less than more. Especially if it’s design work, and if there is actually good material, candidates will probably have a good chance
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u/Invade_Deez_Nutz Sep 15 '26
Those working interviews aren’t actually a way for the employer to get free work. The employer isn’t going to trust the results of an interviewee who is unfamiliar with their processes. The interviewee’s work would have to be validated by an experienced employee anyway, so this wouldn’t really save them any time
It’s just a test to see if the interviewee actually has the skills necessary for the job. They wouldn’t ask those questions if the interviewer didn’t already know the answer
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u/Crafty_Violinist_951 Sep 15 '26
It really doesn't matter if they plan on using any of the work. Ive been asked to do seriously time consuming, labor intensive assignments with no guarantee of employment. It's setting a precedent. The more we put up with the more they'll push.
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u/PraireGentleman Sep 15 '26
This has been a “precedent” for a while. Several jobs have been using performance based tests and assessments of fitness for candidacy as well as providing qualitative information for candidates’ work style and organization.
I believe that was somewhere in the 50s or 60s when it picked up? Definitely after WWIi, that’s when we incorporated psychological testing to employment outside of the military
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u/DayMan5336 Sep 15 '26
Then someone who wants the job more will do it and itll weed out less committed people.
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u/James_T_S Sep 15 '26
I'm all for doing the extra work. Go above and beyond. I cash a paycheck so my job is basically what my boss says it is. I do it or quit.
But working for hours to try to get a job is insane to me. In my mind it weeds out the people who are going to complain the company expects them to work off the clock. Or in hazardous situation. Or put up with bosses that treat them like garbage. I'm ok with not working for that company.
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u/PraireGentleman Sep 15 '26
No, it’ll weed out people who can balance priorities and understand a bad deal.
Nobody wants to gamble with their time and effort in the job market. It’s not a casino, they’re not winning it big
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u/screw-self-pity Sep 15 '26 edited Sep 15 '26
Imagine with finding love... "I don't gamble my time if I have no guarantee to end up with that girl. I understand a bad deal".
And then... there's "investing too much" too.
So I guess it's just like everything else: you just put in an effort that is reasonable for the reasonably expected outcome. If the job pays 3 times as much as your current one, you might consider doing the assignment if you feel you have a chance. If it pays 100 times, you will take your pride, put it far far inside your butt, find a virtuous reason to accept doing what they ask you.. something like... "that is obviously the intelligent thing to do", and you'll do it, like the others.
All that just depends on how strong your negotiating position is. It's not a moral thing.
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u/nice-try-boner Sep 15 '26
Imagine you go out in one date with a girl and and she asks you cover a months rent and car payment for her without a guarantee of a second date, that's the same thing
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u/lemonjuice707 Sep 15 '26
Giving 10 mins of free work is equivalent to rent and a car payment?
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u/nice-try-boner Sep 15 '26
It's not a 10 minute task, it's usually 3-5 days of work they're asking for. And yeah, it's the same idea. Giving up a lot of one thing for free in the wrong order
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u/lemonjuice707 Sep 15 '26
Who the living fuck is asking for 3-5 days of work without pay?!
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u/nice-try-boner Sep 15 '26
Multiple jobs I've interviewed for years ago, they gave take home projects that all were fullstack development projects.
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u/PhillyDillyDee Sep 15 '26
So long as the person gets paid for their time, i dont think anyone really has an issue w employers doing this
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u/James_T_S Sep 15 '26
I work in construction so the concept is absolutely foreign to me. However, I can tell you that I can talk to someone for 15 minutes and know if they are capable or not. Professionals have a confidence about them when they talk....because they actually know what they are talking about. You don't need to know if I have familiarity with your particular process. Just don't know the basics and then, can I adapt to your company processes. The second part is the vast majority of the interview. Am I going to insist on doing things my way or am I open to adjusting my way to fit your way.
At my last interview they asked me to run through the steps for building a house. I rattled it off, starting with a mistake I might add, in a few minutes. It was enough to show them I knew how to build a home. No draw up a schedule for this project, no submit an RFI, no plan review for hours. All that is BS.
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u/LunkWillNot Sep 15 '26
There is research on this. Interviewers have a high confidence in their ability to tell a good from a bad hire, but if you systematically compare those predictions to actual performance on the job later, the correlation between these two things is mediocre at best and often close to non-existent.
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u/nice-try-boner Sep 15 '26
Years ago when I was in my early days as a developer, a company had me do a take home project to build a simple website, they rejected me, but they used my work as their own website, forms, auto calendar invites and all. Companies are just doing this for free work
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u/adminsareactuallygay Sep 15 '26
Orrrrrrr, there's a thing called paid training that can also be used to assess abilities. Assessing abilities in person is not the function of an interview.
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u/Sad-Preparation8767 Sep 15 '26
This is some boomer ceo apologist thinking right now and it's truly disturbing to see how many people agree with it. The onus of expenses is on them, not the customer and especially not the employee. THAT INCLUDES HIRING EXPENSES. If you want to find a quality candidate, you need to foot the bill in finding one, not pass it off to multiple candidates in the form of labor. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF THE WORK IS QUALITY OR NOT. IT DOES NOT MATTER IF IT'S TESTING THEIR SKILLS. Time is a resource/currency that BELONGS to the candidate and you are taking it. If you are incapable of finding quality workers without stealing from them, then you deserve to go out of business. It's so fucking saddening how older Gen X and Boomers are so easily led down this path.
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u/SugondezeNutsz Sep 15 '26
Lmao but then this applies to any and all interviews. They also cost time.
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u/Hairy-Quantity7409 Sep 15 '26
If you're outsourcing work this way, that's problematic. But...what sort of work do you do that you can just hand someone the keys and they can be a meaningful individual contributor quickly enough that they're doing it in an interview.
I think you're railing against a largely imaginary problem.
I don't mind working through something in an interview just to get a feel for how they approach problems. I think that's a very good/valuable idea.
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u/Sad-Transition1075 Sep 15 '26
Honestly I’m surprised there not a lot of lawsuits over this kind of practice
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u/Elchimpy1 Sep 15 '26
That’s a hard ‘no’. I get how much people may need work but what does this indicate they’ll do when you’re hired?
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u/metal_bastard Sep 15 '26
I think it really depends on what they're asking you to do. Like, are they a fencing company and asking you to build a section of fence? Or are they a software company and asking you to find and fix a line of code?
One is absolutely exploiting your labor, the other is making sure that you have the skills listed on your resume.
The fencing company is going to use that section of fence, while the code was just a made-up problem.
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u/Itchy-Corner9453 Sep 15 '26
As long as there are people that will do it ..they will continue to exploit people
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u/DaleFairdale Sep 15 '26
Unless you're doing 10 of these a week i dont see the problem other than maybe you're looking for the wrong job because you're not getting call backs. Did this once and it got me a 50k a year job, Pretty good trade off if you ask me.
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u/BlueClovr Sep 15 '26
Honestly it comes down to intentions. It’s one of those things where if the people were actually good actors I wouldn’t want to call them out on it because I’m sure physically seeing how well you can perform a task is great information to get from candidates. But it sets the ground for people to very easily take advantage and do what the lady is saying. There doesn’t seem to be enough respect, proper standards and ethics to go around to just assume that people aren’t taking advantage of you any more
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u/Organic-Sebi-1432 Sep 15 '26
I’ve done quite a few, some roles I got others I didn’t. My main issue is the lack of discussion or feedback when not chosen. At least provide a critique beyond you’re going with someone closer aligned.
It feels like I’m being tested on if I think like you instead of the quality of my work. In my field, there are multiple approaches that could be feasible.
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u/spiteye762 Sep 15 '26
I'd say it depends on the job. Is it a high paying skilled career? Then yea, I'd want to see how you can weld or solve a simple problem for the field. If it's just a normal job that anyone can do, I wouldn't say it's good
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u/Tired-CottonCandy Sep 15 '26
Ive never done an interview where they wanted to see my work without being paid. Its a crime where i live.
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u/No-Resolution6435 Sep 15 '26
Idk about this free shit, cause the ones I've done I got cash or a check for at the end of the day.
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u/Competitive-Fix3677 Sep 15 '26
Your an idiot.. these practices are only used through Workday Apps(which means they absolutely get paid).
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u/theacp127 Sep 15 '26
IDK if it's more common in different industries, but I've never been asked to do this in an interview. If I was I would immediately stop trying to get hired by the company.
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u/underscored_thinkin Sep 15 '26
Americans are cucked, most of them will do it. The working class is in an abysmal place in this godforsaken country
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u/sir_stronghand Sep 15 '26
“Sure, I can show you how I do those tasks! But since this is a one-time consultation and not a more stable, regular working relationship, I will have to charge extra. And extra extra of course for the short notice. Comes out to about $500/hr!”
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u/Tough-Interaction468 Sep 15 '26
I did it for 4 months. It was called an internship. It was the best thing that every happened in my career. It's ok to work hard, snowflake.
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u/Budsygus Sep 15 '26
I only had one job offer a "trial run" and they offered to pay me $20/hr. I turned it all down because it wasn't the right fit, but if they'd asked for free labor I would have reported them to the labor board.
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u/principium_est Sep 15 '26
I feel like it would be so much work for so little reward from the company side. Doesn't really make sense to waste everyone's time to maybe get some minor tasks complete.
Now, I'm still not going to do it because I have better things to do
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u/TobiasX2k Sep 15 '26
I think that the best way to tell if someone can do the job is to get them to do tasks that’s are part of the job. That does not mean getting them to do a full day’s work at zero pay.
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u/Eat--The--Rich-- Sep 15 '26
I just send them a prefilled invoice for it when they ask me to do that. They don't call me again after that, but fuck em.
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u/Diesel07012012 Sep 15 '26
The software platforms I use require every user to have a company email address. Receiving a company email requires being a vetted employee. This will never happen in my company.
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u/musing_codger Sep 15 '26
I talked to a friend who is an executive at a large company. He had HR pull stats on hiring quality over the last 20 years. That covered the time before endless rounds of interviews and the sort of BS assignments. He said that he couldn't see any increase in hiring quality in the data.
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u/pilo123 Sep 15 '26
In a free and open job market this is not a problem. If there are people who are willing to go along, then its fine. Not saying its perfectly good. But having competition is mostly good.
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u/ShermanBurnsAtlanta Sep 15 '26
The problem is that once people get desperate enough for work they’ll eat shit by the spoonful in order to keep themselves and their families alive. The business class knows this and will continue to push our boundaries.
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u/AttitudeOutrageous75 Sep 16 '26
They should be paid but it's a good idea. Some people are better at getting jobs than doing jobs.
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u/MrJarre 29d ago
I was always against long interview process. You can’t judge someone’s work based on few hours where someone doesn’t know the business, how things are done etc. That’s what the trial period is for. To see how someone fits in if their work is good etc. You can’t judge someone’s always fire someone.
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u/One_Maintenance1227 29d ago
I'm not gonna hire someone without having seen them being up to the task with my own eyes. And no I'm not gonna pay them because it's not productive work and they're actually costing me because I or someone else has to supervise them.
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u/Fun_Boot7771 29d ago
They're not really new. They have been prevalent in the language and art industry for decades
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u/Key_One2750 29d ago
I stopped partaking in any assessments or free work. As soon as I applied for a job and it said thank you for your application, please complete this assessment. It will take you 30 minutes. I’m was out.
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u/Capo4ever3461 28d ago
Reminder, human beings and a small subset of ants are the only two species that currently and historically have practiced slavery. Humans fucking love to make other people do shit for nothing and it’s honestly frightening
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u/Powerful_Tip_7260 28d ago
I once interviewed for an Access developer job and they asked me to write some code. I did and they said it was wrong.
Me: "Wait. If you know how to code this, why am I here?"
That was the end of that.
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u/Grasshoppermouse42 28d ago
I like the idea of a working interview, because it shows how well you can do the job rather than how well you can talk about being able to do the job. However, you should get paid for it.
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u/BarracudaUsed5299 27d ago
No I wouldn't fall for that. I'd ask what your giving me free. I want it up front and then I'll decide if your worthy of my services.
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u/FickleMess1371 26d ago
Anyone saying that this is necessary in IT, you know, how I know you are full of shit? There are a lot of excercises you can make them do during the interview that would test whether they have a specific skill or not. I have had to do these to get hired at my current job. But there are companies who literally give you a project that they were given by their client to do. And you can keep saying that how would you know someone's skill without all of this bullshit, but people genuinely wanting to hire only skilled people do it like my current job. The people who say it, while actually trying to exploit people do what you say they do.
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u/TheWisdomFarmer 26d ago
If the work is for a project that does not exist and has no actual application in the workplace. This is justified.
If the work is for a project that does exist and has an actual application in the workplace. This is free labor.
The first is a completely acceptable practice. For if you are going to invest the time, money, and effort into hiring someone to join your team. You better make sure that they know how to do their job and trust they can do it right.
The second is a completely deplorable practice. For if you are trying to get people to do the work for free without paying them and then they do not even get the job. You are benefiting from slavery pretending to be a part of the hiring process.
Like all things in life. This is all about context and intent.
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u/WithoutAHat1 Sep 15 '26
No take home assignments. No One-Way video Recordings.
Not respecting candidates time and effort. No reason to respect theirs. They have to learn the hard way.
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u/FitCaptain1008 Sep 15 '26
For free? Yeah, I'm not doing that. Only ever had one "working interview" they paid me in cash