Emma
@esteez.eth
Is it wrong/unethical/extractive/in bad taste for companies to require applicants to produce valuable work "for free" when applying? Are there exceptions? E.g. write an investment thesis, do competitor research, put together a pitch deck, prototype a new feature, etc.
7 replies
1 recast
11 reactions
evan | hiring eng @ Lazer
@thebc12
this is tricky - I think if the work could be leveraged / used by the business in any way it should be paid. I think work trails if you can do them, is a great way to solve for this. If it is more in the abstract; while I think it would be nice to pay a candidate for their work, it is, at the end of the day, the company's prerogative to have a process they want and the candidate wants a job there.
1 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
Emma
@esteez.eth
Totally - I'm seeing more and more non-traditional JDs that want applicants to produce work similar to what the role demands, e.g. a pitch, memo, product idea, etc. Which feels like it could yield a better signal about candidate-company fit but also feels like it introduces a weird ethical gray area.. and if I didn't care about that, I would open up a bunch of these non-traditional JDs, blast them across a bunch of job boards, and just wait for free work to come in 🫠
1 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
evan | hiring eng @ Lazer
@thebc12
And that’s what happens. For a recruiting role at a well known AI company, to APPLY you had to send in 5 potential candidates for one of their live roles. You could never get an interview and be providing sourcing for them.
1 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
