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Recently FDS got me thinking of how to adjust my answers and strategy when it comes to job interviews.
There are 2 types of pre-employment tests currently according to my knowledge that companies try to serve a candidate:
1) Cognitive/IQ/ Personality type testing: https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/7902/say-no-to-tests-prior-to-an-interview
2) Test tasks based on very specific use cases or anything really that has to do with the company hiring
https://medium.com/@amacduff/no-i-wont-take-your-pre-employment-assessment-here-s-why-59e9b6287df3
Now I think that 1) are completely useless, I have dyscalculia and I don't do well on those tests. However, in my job, I get around with certain mathematical problems with the help of tools and researching and can do the job despite my disability and I generally tend to immediately reject participating in any of these because I feel these tests are discriminatory for people with learning disabilities and just in general, no, what is this, are you going to ask me for an astrological sign and my blood group as well? I understand the US and Europe are way different in this regard.
2) More and more companies in the digital space seem to be asking that you do certain tasks from their daily repertoire or actual broad strategies for them in test tasks, which feels like they are trying to extract free work from you (looking at you, Canva) only to later find that they used your work without compensating you, not respecting any kind of authorship, only to lowball you with a under market salary offer (if at all), because they refused upfront to state a salary range.
I've also seen some companies do this as an unethical hack, where they just interview people for 30 minutes (seems to be the standard now), then send the test task that is a complete strategy, only to get as many different takes on a new strategy for free, when there was never an intention to hire anyone anyway.
I just noticed yesterday that I was still acting on autopilot in interviews when they mention that the next steps would be.a test task, I told them to send it to me. The mere thought of having to do 3 test task in the next 2 weeks got me overwhelmed, because I'm currently also volunteering because I want to and found myself thinking, wait a minute, I don't have to give away my time for free.
Now mind you, I used to be ok with a test task that took max one hour and that was about the general way I work and approach certain things, but I realized
a) I invested a significant amount of time to create a portfolio with use cases and documented some of the work I have done previously as much as privacy allows, and it's attached in my CV
b) I have a list of strong references of previous employers that I am on good terms with that can be contacted
I was ok with some minor preemployment testing with a test task in some previous years because I wasn't a senior then, but looking back I actually only ever ended up working with companies that actually didn't do any of that and that was because they actually trusted my skills. Also, I remembered the advice of a senior software engineer somewhere a while back, he'd push back with something along the lines of "this is my hourly rate, I expect the task to take xyz hours, shall we proceed?"
Now I'm going to write the companies back telling them I don't work for free and that their test task has no NDA or compensation so it's not interesting to me.
Ladies, how would you respond to those companies in my place? What are the best HV and witty ways of setting that boundary?
All of this! It's all so shady!
I had planned to work as an online tutor but I ended up abandoning the entire idea. A company I applied to requested I send them a video of me tutoring a student. I told them I couldn't send them a tutoring video on the spot. I explained that my students are underage and therefore I need parents' written approval for legality. They immediately told me I wasn't a good fit for their company. Lmao, I just know they were up to some shady shit.
Another company wanted me to send them multiple individualized lesson plans. I didn't send them anything because I later found out via research that this particular company stole lesson plans and teaching videos from their staff members. On top of that, they had the nerve to sell that shit on their store page and use their video content for training/educational purposes.
Overall, I think many digital companies are taking advantage of desperate times. They are aware that what they are doing is wrong, but they will continue to do so as long as people agree to it. The more we put our foot down the better.
I come from a very different field and am in Europe, so take my reply with a grain of salt, but I agree with you here.
If you are able to offer both of this they should have enough to get a general impression of the quality and style of your work. If you are not desperate for employment or this is your absolute dream job with a lot of competition I would also be wary of investing a lot of time and effort into working for them for free, especially if they could use the results for their own profit.
Test cases in the interview itself are a different matter (e.g. them asking "How would you react if you were faced with this problem while you are working here?"), of course, at least here that's pretty standard. And they also give you an opportunity to highlight some of your past projects and successes (e.g. by answering "I faced a similar problem when I was working on project X described in my portfolio on page 3. Here's how I solved it.")