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I was asked to complete a “test project” before being hired at my current position. It would have been unrealistic of me to say nah/nope as they were trying to gauge my ability to distill complex issues into an easy to understand presentation. Why are you opposed?
I'm mostly not into it because it didn't spark any "omg I want to work here" feelings, so I guess I'm not generally interested in the job enough to complete the task.
Chief
After 3 interviews with key stakeholders and the HR person, I had a Start-Up ask if I was prepared to do an assignment to present back to their Creative team.
I said I would be prepared to do something like that but I would like to ask what the assignment was before agreeing. They didn’t take me up on it and instead just moved onto the next round of interviews where the Creative team interviewed me.
The team was a designer and a writer with a couple of years experience each. After that I never heard back from them.
It was a weird experience.
I said no- not working for free and not working on a client you have- got hired immediately after. I’ve also had a dream job opportunity and did the assignment which was well received, then covid. Point being pick and choose if it’s worth it.
It depends on the scope of the project and if it directly relates to their business. If it's something they could use, I decline or offer an alternative solution to demonstrate the proficiency. People don't ask surgeons to do a free procedure to demonstrate skill. They don't ask barbers for a free haircut. They shouldn't ask creatives for free work.
I have no problem with it. It’s time consuming but they want to make sure you’re serious and they want to hire the right candidate, which might not be evident even in departments with portfolios, like creative.
I will say, make sure you know the salary range of the position before doing the project.
Think this also depends on timing in the interview flow. I prefer to get a salary range and talk to some employees beyond the recruiter to assess fit before considering an assignment. In my laid-off time earlier this year, I’d created an awesome test research proposal after chatting with the recruiter and before the first team interview. The fit was terrible and I hated the company, so the assignment felt like wasted time in light of getting to the goal of a job offer I was happy to field. Lesson learned.
I did deny once, but I was pretty happy at my incumbent position so they took it as a ‘shrug nah’ and they equally responded with a ‘shrug next’. It’s a seller’s market today, for them the applicants who do jump through hoops are good enough and the reluctant awesome candidates aren’t worth the overtures.
I see both sides, but at the end of the day, I no longer think case studies need to happen in order to find the right people.
Our case studies were more about getting to the core of how candidates processed information, asked follow-up questions, and made decisions/recommendations. We never used real data or real client problems - we weren’t stealing any IP, which based on some comments on Fishbowl, sounds like a persistent issue in the industry. But, I think all the things we look for in candidates, we can ask the right questions to get the answers we need. We don’t need to formally draft a test for it. This might not be true for every industry though.