To think unpaid job trails should be illegal?

[FeelingExploited]

I did a 3 hour bar shift last night. The job was quite easy but the training could have been better. Got a text saying I'd been unsuccessful with no explanation. I spent 3 hours working for free and feel I've wasted my time for a job I actually needed.

I made minor mistakes but even the bar supervisor that was normal as she made so many major mistakes herself. I served the right drinks at all times and always smiled at the customers. That's why I think I've been exploited in some way. The interview day was an easy pass with about 100 other people there.

It's like they wanted to find people to do free work during a busy night and then use that excuse to tell people that haven't go the job for some free labour.

Yup I once spent 5 1/2 hours on a job trail and they didn't even bother letting me know I hadn't been successful.

Sorry for the typos. On my phone!

Can you name and shame OP?

There was a scheme of this through the job centre. My young cousin was sent to work for a large company in a childcare setting for six months and all she got paid was her job seekers allowance.

She got glowing reports for 5 months (if you got a bad report you were pulled from the scheme). Then 2 weeks before her 6 months were up her review said she lacked iniaitive and various other things. Then at the end of the 6 months they said they were very sorry, but they couldn't employ her.

They got someone else in on the same scheme. The cheeky fuckers rang her three months later when they were recruiting for a leaving staff member, they just didn't want to give up their free staff member scheme.

It's a complete swizz.

@FeelingExploited I know people doing work experience through their degrees and beyond in their mid-20s. It's not just for year 11s

I'm with @JasperKarat on this one, it's usually more of a hinderance to employees to do the trails.

Shocked with how many agree with op. Job trials are part of the recruitment process, and they are for the candidates benefit as well as the employers. It's an opportunity for them to see what the job is actually like vs the job description that was advertised and for them to meet their potential colleagues. Imagine leaving a job to start a new one, and discover on your first day that you hate it and you've made a terrible mistake.

You won't have been the only person they invited to a trial, and it's to make sure they recruit the best person for the job, not because they want free labour (as mentioned above they're a pain in the ass for the employers)

Good luck in your job search.

I can understand why you’re annoyed and frustrated. Work trials could an abuse on an applicant. However like a couple of others I do think they can be good if properly managed. A friend owns a restaurant and she makes a work trial part of the interview. The interview/trial is 1 hour long and the applicant works along side my friend. She gets them to talk about their previous experience etc as they work. She finds it is the best way to establish the best applicant.

I did one of these a few years ago. I ended up doing the whole shift (9-5)
I was then told I didn't get the job as i'm 'fragile' and it was apparent from the beginning that I didn't 'fit in'

I’m not sure that they are legal - it may be worth contacting Acas helpline to see if the company has breached the national minimum wage rules. You wouldn’t need the usual two years service to make a claim to an employment tribunal if this were the case - butbthey would probably settle rather than go to tribunal in any event.

I use to work in the hospitality sector as a manager so offered unpaid trials. However, I was strict about not wasting people’s time. The main purpose of a trial was to see how well they could follow instructions I.e did they arrive on time smartly presented and b. To understand a bit more about their personalities.

Once it became apparent they weren’t suitable they would be told they were told they were unsuccessful and why and sent home.

Someone on a trial is a hinderence to service unless they are remarkable. In which case they would have got the job. To put it in perspective I have undertaken at least 15 jobs trials and always been offered the job (I didn’t always accept though)

It's surely possible to incorporate some sort of work trial/on the job test in to the interview process without people coming in and doing an entire shift though. We do this as part of our interview process in childcare - the candidates are asked to prepare an activity to do with a small group of children. They come in, have their face to face interview then go out with the kids and do their activity - fully observed of course - to see how they behave/interact.

You can generally tell pretty quickly if someone has the right personality for the role and the team

@FeelingExploited

Unfortunately I can’t elaborate any further, because that’s all the law says at the moment! It’s outrageous really.

There are no test cases on this point as far as I’m aware - I suspect the reason being that they are so low value that a) nobody bothers bringing them in the first place and b) nobody ever appeals the outcome even if they did, as they are very difficult to appeal without a lawyer (the last “cheap” appeal I did still cost £10k!) and so not worth it for the £30 or so that is lost as a result!

If there was evidence suggesting that the company had different “trials” on a weekly basis with different staff and none of them followed through then that would be a clear breach of the rules. Aldi once advertised for 150 trial shifts - but that didn’t go anywhere apart from bad publicity as not enough evidence! I suppose logically you could have a number of trials with different people if you were genuinely looking for the right candidate, but it’s highly immoral and exploitative!

The interview day was an easy pass with about 100 other people there

Just how many jobs were they advertising for??

One year (4 years back now) I was unemployed and desperate. I agreed to a trial shift on New Year’s Eve (extremely busy night in a very popular club!) spent 8 hours working my ass off and didn’t even get the job. No one raised any mistakes I made and I was praised by staff members for learning quickly. But I had to chase for over a week to be told they had “hired someone else” I was gutted. Yanbu OP. I think trials should be limited to 1-2 hours depending on the role and you should have decent feedback not just “Sorry you were unsuccessful”.

Yanbu. Even if they don't keep you on they should be paying for your time, you've already been through the interview. I would love to see the law o this tightened up and companies owing back pay to all the people they've exploited.