To withdraw my job applications when employers want me to do an unpaid trial shift?

Eyelinerofthetigers · 2025-08-07T10:26:05+00:00

Because I think it’s a fucking piss take? I thought there was a law being introduced saying employers have to pay applicants for trial shifts but it seems not as so many employers seem to think it’s acceptable to want applicants to do this. A friend has recently done an unpaid trial WEEK for a sales job. At the end of the trial the manager of the company said he’d probably got the job but that he just needed to confirm things with the company owner and then he’d be in touch. They’ve since totally ghosted my friend and it’s been 3 weeks!

janj52301 · 09/09/2025 21:35

Local British Heart Foundation shop did this. My daughter did a whole day and never heard back from them. They no longer get donations from us, I'm sure they miss the £100 per annum!!!!

dottydoooda · 10/08/2025 02:56

FlipFlopShopInHawaii · 08/08/2025 17:01

How does working unpaid for a month fit with minimum wage rules?

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Anything more than a day is risky for an employer - anyone on trial could be deemed a “worker” under the National Minimum Wage Act, entitling them to at least the minimum wage, and employers may face enforcement action from HMRC. In practice though, I’m sure many employers would get away with it.

Chocolatebunny61 · 09/08/2025 18:47

My son is a chef and he’s done a trial shift for every job he’s been for. It is the standard practice for roles like that. 99% of the employers have got back to him though.

XenoBitch · 09/08/2025 18:42

Christ, that sounds shit tbh. How do they get away with it?
How does this work with applicants who are brand new to the type of role it is. Does no one actually train new employees anymore?

I remember a thread by someone who did a trial shift in a hotel as a cleaner. Job description said no experience needed as training was provided. She failed the trial shift because she didn't know what she was doing. Apparently folded the sheets on the beds all wrong.

Hollybobs1 · 09/08/2025 18:35

I'd withdraw my application, fook that 😂

ZenNudist · 09/08/2025 06:14

PrincessAnne5Eva · 07/08/2025 11:46

Meanwhile, every teacher is expected to plan and teach an unpaid "trial lesson" as standard or you can't get a job as a teacher in this country. Planning it in your own time around your own workload, providing resources yourself as well as the time wasted waiting around while all the other candidates do their unpaid trial lesson. Given any random class with no knowledge of their abilities, individual learning needs or behaviour. Expected to learn the behaviour policy of the school in advance and follow it. They managed fine without this nonsense during Covid but have gone straight back to it again. And they wonder why they can't get teachers.

I'd love to see the NHS try this. Could you imagine? We're hiring a surgeon, just show us you can actually do a surgery before we make you a job offer, and stand around outside theatre doing nothing while all the other candidates do the same surgery on different patients. Some of the patients will be rowdy or obnoxious and we'll just blame it on you and if we don't really want you to work here we'll purposely give you someone who you can't operate on then demand to know why you didn't perform the surgery.

I'd abolish these sort of work trials completely. If we don't need to see a surgeon do their job before hiring them (which we don't), or to check if a pilot can land a plane to our satisfaction (also doesn't happen), no one needs to see if someone can scan a barcode with a barcode scanner then ask a customer to pay for the item.

Edited

A lot of professional jobs require A LOT of work to get through interviews. I've just been through an internal promotion process that has taken a YEAR of training and events and strategists and preparing presentations and profiles in my spare time.

That's totally different than doing a shift in a care home or waiting tables or picking and packing for free.

Valeriekat · 09/08/2025 06:09

Alliolly · 07/08/2025 14:16

I can't believe the outrage in these responses.
I work in hospitality and after nearly 20 years in the industry, I'm yet to interview for a position that didn't include an unpaid 3-4h trial shift.
I'm not saying I support it, but it is a standard practice in some industries

Just because it is standard practice doesn't make it right.

dayswithaY · 08/08/2025 18:23

Asda used to do this, no idea if they still do. Many years ago when I needed a part time job I had a group interview with them. I was probably there all morning doing stupid role play exercises, doing a tour of the store.

As soon as I got home they offered me an unpaid trial shift lasting 4 hours on fruit and veg. I felt quite insulted that a multi national corporation (I think they were owned by Walmart at the time) would pull a stunt like this.

I wonder if they just did the rounds of everyone who was at the interview that day, hoping to find someone to say yes.

Verv · 08/08/2025 18:03

FlipFlopShopInHawaii · 08/08/2025 17:01

How does working unpaid for a month fit with minimum wage rules?

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No idea, but if asked i would consider it to be voluntary work.

Newnameshoos · 08/08/2025 17:12

PrincessAnne5Eva · 07/08/2025 11:46

Meanwhile, every teacher is expected to plan and teach an unpaid "trial lesson" as standard or you can't get a job as a teacher in this country. Planning it in your own time around your own workload, providing resources yourself as well as the time wasted waiting around while all the other candidates do their unpaid trial lesson. Given any random class with no knowledge of their abilities, individual learning needs or behaviour. Expected to learn the behaviour policy of the school in advance and follow it. They managed fine without this nonsense during Covid but have gone straight back to it again. And they wonder why they can't get teachers.

I'd love to see the NHS try this. Could you imagine? We're hiring a surgeon, just show us you can actually do a surgery before we make you a job offer, and stand around outside theatre doing nothing while all the other candidates do the same surgery on different patients. Some of the patients will be rowdy or obnoxious and we'll just blame it on you and if we don't really want you to work here we'll purposely give you someone who you can't operate on then demand to know why you didn't perform the surgery.

I'd abolish these sort of work trials completely. If we don't need to see a surgeon do their job before hiring them (which we don't), or to check if a pilot can land a plane to our satisfaction (also doesn't happen), no one needs to see if someone can scan a barcode with a barcode scanner then ask a customer to pay for the item.

Edited

Are they still doing this? I'm old enough to have been appointed to teaching roles when an interview was still sufficient, but was working in schools when it all started. Used to cause havoc with half your class being taken out etc.
I had a colleague who was applying for jobs and one prospective boss was visiting all the candidates to see them teaching their own class. Which was fine, only my colleague didn't have their own class as we worked in a peri service!
Surely references tell you that a teacher is up to the job? It's a lot of hassle and doesn't necessarily give you any real sense of how a teacher will actually be in your setting with their own class.

FlipFlopShopInHawaii · 08/08/2025 17:01

Verv · 08/08/2025 13:02

I did a month unpaid trial for my current job, which is admittedly niche.
I've been there for just shy of 8 years now and it was the best gamble i ever made and has been life changing.
I suppose it depends on the job though.

Edited

How does working unpaid for a month fit with minimum wage rules?

daisychain01 · 08/08/2025 16:36

Don't do it. Nobody should do anything for free. That's massively taking advantage, and the disgraceful thing is people are desperate for the work so they very often agree to it.

know your worth.

Verv · 08/08/2025 13:02

I did a month unpaid trial for my current job, which is admittedly niche.
I've been there for just shy of 8 years now and it was the best gamble i ever made and has been life changing.
I suppose it depends on the job though.

poetryandwine · 08/08/2025 12:51

SoftLass · 08/08/2025 08:54

My two teens have both experienced this too in going for weekend/Saturday jobs. One of them was a local deli who were clearly doing this repeatedly as they were always looking for applicants on the local FB page. It's so exploitative!

I wish someone would name and shame them

poetryandwine · 08/08/2025 12:50

Slimagain · 07/08/2025 14:35

When my daughter was 15 she did a trial shift at a v posh v expensive tea room in the middle of the main town tourist attraction. (Similar to Baths Pump dining room) . She wasn’t even told until the end that it was unpaid. She came home disappointed because although she had been told how well she had done - had not been offered the job. Yes I am THAT mother. Long story short but she was paid in cash that evening despite the ‘owner being unavailable’ . . The reason I went toe to toe with them was a few enquiries about how she had heard about the job and then a few posts from my daughters friends and acquaintances made it obvious that they were ‘trialling’ 3 kids EVERY weekend - none of whom got the job.
Picked the wrong kid. I work as an investigator in modern slavery and human trafficking . They closed a few months later .

Edited

Fantastic

Inertia · 08/08/2025 09:51

Morningsleepin · 07/08/2025 12:52

Surely performing artists do auditions?

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An audition is reasonable, but not a fair comparison with most trial shifts as the hiring organisation presumably wouldn’t be making a profit from paying customers watching the audition.

If Random Name Burgers use people on an unpaid trial to perform work which customers pay for, then they profit from people’s unpaid labour.

RimTimTagiDim · 08/08/2025 09:20

Hopefully it will become illegal.

jackstini · 08/08/2025 09:07

RimTimTagiDim · 08/08/2025 08:38

Why is it fine? At minimum wage it'd cost the employer £6-12, and they can't even do that?

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The £12 would be fine - but all the admin setting up a person for an hour trial would put them off

I think 30-60 minutes as part of the interview process is fine - dd did this for her first job at 15, but not a whole shift. It taking the piss, but unfortunately it's legal

Assessments for work can take hours though. DS applying for apprenticeships this year had one over 3 hours (Rolls Royce) and the Army was 48 hours!

JMSA · 08/08/2025 09:04

Fat40Unhappy · 07/08/2025 19:49

I worked in hospitality for longer than I care to admit.

Unpaid trial shifts are very common.

I was stung a couple of times before I was made aware of the fact that trials should only be 1-2 hours and after that should be paid at the hourly rate.

Once I done a really busy lunch shift, was told I got the job and would be paid. I wasn’t.

Second time was a Friday night in a fancy hotel restaurant. Again was told I had the job and they would be in touch about shifts.

Shitty employers use trials to fill gaps in labour and prey upon young, uninformed people desperate for work.

I have done trial shifts and ended up with the job and worked there for a long time. I definitely wouldn’t work for any employer who required an unpaid trial nowadays though. It’s a big red flag.

Absolute bastards.

JMSA · 08/08/2025 09:02

My teenage daughter did an unpaid trial evening at a restaurant the other week. She decided subsequently not to take the job, as they didn’t actually show her how to do anything. It was a Saturday night and it was too busy, so they gave her snappy instructions and that was it. She has only just turned 16 and this was her first experience of being in a workplace. She felt stupid and out of place.
Annoyingly, they had given her a uniform for the trial, so she had to trek across town a few days later to return it (she’s a decent kid and did this for them, whereas I’m sure plenty wouldn’t have bothered!).
I don’t believe in trial shifts at all and it really winds me up. It’s a piss-take. Even the big chains do it though. Eldest daughter had one with Nando’s years ago when she was a student.

SoftLass · 08/08/2025 08:54

My two teens have both experienced this too in going for weekend/Saturday jobs. One of them was a local deli who were clearly doing this repeatedly as they were always looking for applicants on the local FB page. It's so exploitative!

RimTimTagiDim · 08/08/2025 08:38

PennyAnnLane · 07/08/2025 12:35

I think this is fine, 30 mins - 1hr but an entire shift is a piss take. Especially
for something like working in a shop or pub where the work is simply to be polite and helpful rather than any specific skill like playing the violin.

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Why is it fine? At minimum wage it'd cost the employer £6-12, and they can't even do that?

canyouseemyhousefromhere · 08/08/2025 00:08

EmeraldShamrock000 · 07/08/2025 22:02

It's a scam for many employers, it should be illegal.
I hope he found something more secure.

Edited

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Thank you.
Unfortunately still nothing 300+ applications. Very often getting an interview which goes well then later rejected for ‘lack of experience’. He’s applying for all sorts outside of his preferred area as he just wants to be working. That’s when he’s taken advantage of with the ‘try out’ days.
I don’t know how he hasn’t cracked to be honest.

Depressing.

EmeraldShamrock000 · 07/08/2025 22:02

canyouseemyhousefromhere · 07/08/2025 21:19

My ds has been caught out by this three times! Each time he has worked his socks off then ghosted.

It's a scam for many employers, it should be illegal.
I hope he found something more secure.

canyouseemyhousefromhere · 07/08/2025 21:19

My ds has been caught out by this three times! Each time he has worked his socks off then ghosted.