Grace Haaf, 33, an analytics consultant who lives in Soho, completed two phone interviews with a rideshare company when they asked her to do a coding test. This “job audition” required solving a complex coding problem and creating a presentation to explain her process. And she had only 24 hours to do it.
She pulled an all-nighter, but given the time constraints, “you can either write really good code or you can write a good presentation,” but not both, she says. Haaf focused on walking through how she would solve the problem and explaining how she would collaborate with the engineering team to implement the code.
Their reply? “It wasn’t enough.”
Nicole (last name withheld), 33, a strategist living in Long Island City, interviewed for a startup that asked her to deliver an entire year’s marketing plan.
“I basically came up with a whole rollout plan for their marketing,” she recalls. “I was devastated when I didn’t get the job. But the worst part was, the founder sent me the full name of the person who got the role — she was their intern. I’ll never know, but it felt like they took my marketing plan, created from years of hard-won experience, and gave it to an intern, fresh out of school — with a price tag to match, I’m sure. I was furious that I’d essentially consulted for them and provided a valuable service for free.”
Hedge-funders are asked to create Excel models and pitch investing ideas. Journalists are asked to do editing tests. And interviewers are increasingly making absurd demands on applicants’ time, assigning intensive take-home work to demonstrate skills and show how they’d approach the role for which they’re interviewing.
“You have to ask the person to do a test,” says Liz Tran, a VP at venture-capital firm Thrive Capital and the founder of Reset, a new wellness studio in Nolita that aims to help professionals power up their careers and manage stress. “You have to see the work product.”
And many companies are growing so quickly that they need new ways to efficiently narrow the field. “They need to get to the core of the issue: Can the person do the work?”
So how should you react when you’re asked to do a job audition — and how can you make sure that you’re not taken advantage of? Here’s what to do if you’re asked to work for free.
Know what’s normal
Ask around to get a sense of what’s fair.
“It’s important to understand what is standard in your industry and determine where your boundaries are,” says Lauren Clifford Knudsen, executive vice president at J Public Relations.
In many creative industries, people are asked to create proposals for prospective clients. In Knudsen’s case, she draws the line at giving too many details. “We inspire with the big ideas, but wait until we’re working together to share the very granular, specific ways we achieve that big idea,” she says. “Follow your gut: If it feels off, it probably is. It is your intellectual capital, and you should feel empowered to decide who does or does not have access to it!”
Do your homework on the employer
“It’s so easy to learn about the reputation of a company before you start interviewing with them,” says Tran. She recommends doing a search on Glassdoor or PayScale to get a sense of their hiring process. “Being an educated interviewer is the No. 1 way to get ahead.”
Watch for red flags
“I’ve seen edit tests given after brief screener phone calls, or even as screeners themselves, when you have to imagine you’re one of dozens of candidates being considered,” says Nicole. “It’s one thing to work on good, original work when you think there’s a chance you might get the job, but another when there’s a better chance they’ll take your ideas and leave you out in the cold without so much as a follow-up e-mail.”
Ask how your test will be used
If you decide to go forward with the job audition, ask the recruiter what they’re trying to learn about you, how it will be evaluated and what happens to the assignment after.
“It’s 100 percent fair to ask, ‘Can you walk me through why you created this project and what you’re looking to get out if it? How much time should I spend? What’s expected?’ ” says Tran.
Negotiate your terms
Tran says that if a company is asking you to do an assignment early in the interview process, it should take no longer than an hour. If you’re up for a senior role and know you are one of the finalists, five to 10 hours is reasonable. But if a company asks you to do an assignment that is too time intensive, don’t take yourself out of the running. She suggests saying something like: “I’m working full-time, and this will take me three hours. I’m really interested and think it’s fair to spend an hour. Can we re-scope it?”
Be ready to explain your work
Often, pressing “send” doesn’t end the assignment. “Be prepared for a conversation about what you produced,” suggests Susan, 31, an account manager who lives in the Financial District. “When I recently presented, I was so focused on preparing for the presentation that I didn’t even think about the conversation after. The first thing they did was ask if I had questions about the data, and I had nothing to say. Be prepared with questions to show your interest and curiosity about the role and company.”
