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I just did this and tbh it gave me the ick too.
Nope. No free work. If they don’t want to pay you, you can present a case study to show what you’ve done in the past. That’s how we used to do it for candidates to see their potential and how they handled a Q&A. This request is just a call for free ideas.
Never
How's the rest of the process been? If thats been ick that would tell me the company is ick and probably not one I want to work for.
Rising Star
Industry specific. In tech this is common place. 3-4 hours is reasonable. Set it up so it’s not something that can be used. Just did it for 3 final senior candidates and had them present it as well. They all said yes and it was helpful to have a consistent element to compare them against one another.
So, too lazy to look at their previous work?
ick
In the restaurant this was a common practice it was called a day in the life. It gives you a chance to see what your stepping into, it also gives the employer a better idea of you’re a good fit or not without the full commitment. I think the practice is underutilized. So if its not for you move on politely. But it does give a chance to see what you can do that is jot in writing.
I feel too many people hide behind words and no action. What are you afraid of? I think this is a great way to showcase you and its wonderful!!!!
Sure, and in a restaurant, your product is ephemeral. A potential boss can’t time travel and taste what you made two years ago so of course, staging makes sense in that regard.
In this industry, what we build is not quite ephemeral: it can be viewed and engaged with at any time. It’s not hiding behind words and no action: it’s looking at a proven track record of work samples and results, the impressions made in an interview and references, and the employer deciding whether or not to hire.
Assignments like the one OP referenced are nothing but a ploy for free thinking.
What does a small 4 hour sample project clarify/confirm?
An applicant’s portfolio projects would likely show much greater depth, range, ability.
I did a sample project for an interview where they paid me a nominal fee ($200). Ending up spending all weekend on the project, didn't make it to the next round or get any explanation why.
Looking back, I'm pretty sure this company used the test project thing as a way to get great creative work for a pittance.
Never again.
Send them an estimate and ask them to agree.
Is the sample project directly related to your current clients?
If it’s a fake project, even more of an annoying waste of time and energy, for everyone.
Even more of a red flag.
As someone who’s been on both sides of this, I wanted to share my perspective.
I interviewed for a job I really wanted and they asked me to do an assignment which they said shouldn’t take more than 3-4 hours. It was structured as a pitch for a prospective client, who was already a client of theirs, so they wouldn’t be using my work. I didn’t mind doing it because I wanted to prove my talent. If I didn’t really want the position, I wouldn’t have done it. When they told me I nailed it and they went with their contract worker and broke my heart, I still had no regrets.
Now I lead a team of sub-par performers who were hired before I landed my role. They weren’t given any type of project that showed they could walk the talk. I truly wish they’d been given some sort of project to compare them with peers at the same level.
Net net, I think if it’s not too time consuming and can’t be used for client work, it’s a further opportunity to showcase your taken and stand out in this awful job market.
Well perhaps I should clarify that I’m speaking from the viewpoint of another department within the agency world, not creative, one that doesn’t provide portfolios.
For me, it all depends upon the calculus of how high up on the selection totem pole you are. Do you have a hook? Does the free work truly showcase what makes you different and special? Will you end up approaching it differently than all the other candidates? If doing that four hours of work doesn’t give you a measurable leg up on the rest of the competition, the answer for me is no. But if I think I can showcase something about myself in that four hours, that will put me over the top? I’ll do it 100% of the time. In fact, I’m working on a similar project right now.
Maybe you should email their new biz contact and say you’re a prospective client with an amazing opportunity… but the first project will have to be unpaid. Are they interested? Then screenshot their response and send to the person who made this request.
They should offer $100 gift cards for those. That'd make me feel respected for my time.
Speaking as a Head of Demand Generation who is actively recruiting several creatives, I can understand the "ick feeling." I have been doing a very short, paid trial with specific creative briefs. The understanding is that my agency owns the creatives, so no watermarks can be included, etc. This allows for the canidate feel valued and the work tends to reflect that.
I was asked this, and instead asked if I could walk them through an old case of mine. I got hired. But this was a smaller agency who really wanted me.
And this is really the point here—a hiring team asking for a creative to create a “sample” project to gauge talent, skill, ability, etc is a lie and meaningless in gauging the most valuable part of a creative hire.
It takes time to understand a client, the ask of the project, the audience and any nuance that feeds concept and styling, to ask followup questions and confirm understanding, and ultimately produce a well thought out deliverable.
I’m unclear on the rubric for a “quick turn” project, and if the primary gauge is quick thinking? But this in no way would be a good assessment if anything other than reality show appeal for a real time design competition.
Creative work with strategic value, intention and exploration, and pressure-tested results CAN NOT happen in ~4 hours.
A candidate explaining a case study offers a rich understanding of so much more.
Challenges, nuanced parameters and logistics, budget considerations, innovative workarounds, collaborative exploration, concept/design options and, with a case study, the chance of some shared metrics/results from all the effort.
It’s an opportunity to show thinking, approach, mindset, how well a potential hire explains, articulates, navigates questions, and handles themselves in a presentation of sorts. Plus, hiring teams get to see the resulting products and how it connects back to creative thinking and solutions. THIS is the area to gauge a creative and how well they would create with the hiring team.
HIRING TEAMS, LISTEN UP:
Asking about a case study is a far better use of discussion and interview process than a sample project to gauge a creative candidate. And it really reflects badly on you and your organization to not understand this.
Stop the theft in the name of assessing applicants.
This is so standard nowadays unfortunately. Especially in growth marketing / paid media space I find it's incredibly common, sadly.
In addition to that being bad practice, what director-level candidates have time for that? If you’re forcing a project, pay them as a freelancer
Just as there are scammers posing as candidates, there are scammers posing as jobs. Sometimes the scammer will try and get info to sell (like Facebook) and sometimes this is their version of "crowd sourceing" where candidates create solutions for free and never get a job.
If the coding is done on a platform, like HackerRank or similar then it is probably fine, but if it looks scammy it probably is.
Depends how excited I am about the company / role.
I would try to neg for less hours. If they really want you why would they do this?