SgtAE

What level of work/tests are acceptable in the modern interview process?

Hey team,

Just saw a post on Linkedin where they we're hiring a community manager and they asked for 3 social media post samples as part of their interview process, in the comments people we're providing negative feedback saying "asking for free work is bad".

I mean in any sales interview, mock discovery call, cold call, maybe demo, i've personally done mock calls, wrote emails, did mock personalised outreach etc.

Where are people drawing the lines these days?

🗣 Interviewing

14 comments

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Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

If they're asking for 3 social media posts that already exist then yeah sure. Mock disco calls and all that are also fully acceptable. When they want me to do a demo of their product and define their ICP without working there, I hesitate.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Accurate. It should never be something they can actually use.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Yeah if these posts are already published and created I see no harm

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I don't work for free my dude.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

For a job as a "Community Manager" where you have to interact with people in an online forum, asking for work samples is very appropriate. Nothing like real world work to show you can do the job.
That said, I would include samples which have little to nothing to do with the Community in question. You can demonstrate your abilities while not "working for free".

FoodForSales

Politicker

this seems right.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

If you can avoid it, never offer to produce something net-new. Leverage existing work.

SPT

Valued Contributor

Director, Channel Sales & Partner Alliances

I was just given a LinkedIn profile and the hiring manager wanted my cold email pitch. I worked 5 hours on it, studying so much....wrote the most personalized and relevant email...then didn't get a call back. This has happened twice now. Hiring manager now has my work.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Examples of social media posts from someone actively seeking to be hired as a community manager seem to be table stakes. Surely they’d have existing samples they could point to - and a bonus if it’s live and got great engagement. I’m not seeing an issue.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

There is a line, but it will shift based on the job market. When there are few jobs and loads of candidates (like now) you can expect to have to jump through more hoops.

When it’s a seekers market and jobs far outnumber candidates you should expect the process to relax a little to facilitate speed of hire.

Ultimately you decide how much is too much.

J.J.McLure

Politicker

Owner at *redacted*

I think this is a good way for an employer and potential employee to learn about each other.
An employer that is asking for something like this is gauging at least 2 things. 1- The level of interest that the recruit has in the position. Will they put some effort into their first "work project" or half ass it. 2- They want to see that this potential new employee goes beyond doing the bare minimum. This is the dating stage, if one is not willing to put in some effort here there's a big chance that they're the type of employee that does the minimum, won't help out colleagues if there's nothing in it for them, ect.
As a person looking for work, this would show you that most likely this is a company where you won't do well if you're not putting in extra effort and extra hours.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Are you compensating that person for the hours of work they are putting in, or is this free consulting?

Unless it’s a mock exercise with canned data you are essentially exploiting a job seeker for free work (especially if you don’t hire them).

J.J.McLure

Politicker

Owner at *redacted*

I 100% agree that if an employer is asking for content or consulting and has no intention of hiring, that is unethical and it proves my 2nd point. It's a red flag, you wouldn't want to work for this company anyways.
Since I have no idea what that person's intent is, I'll use my example from this week.
Yesterday I interviewed someone for head of marketing. He's got a great work history, but nothing even close to our industry. So I asked him to go do a bit of research on our industry and come back with what his 1-3-6 month plan would look like.
-If I take his plan and implement it without hiring him, I'm an A-Hole and I have absolutely no intention of doing that. -If he whines and bitches about having to "work for free" then I'll assume that he would be a whiney little B after I hire him too. That's his right, but he doesn't need to work with me. -If he comes back with a 1/2 decent plan and I see that he put in some effort, I'll assume he will be of value to the company.

We all get our opinions, but if a person is actually trying for a position they have to think from the employers side too.

Founding BDR

Had a couple of companies say they were going to compensate me for any work I did a part of my interview process. Took a role before I got to there with those companies so didn’t see how it turned out - but it was still cool to see.

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SgtAE

What level of work/tests are acceptable in the modern interview process?

14 comments

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