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

[Eyelinerofthetigers]

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!

Surely performing artists do auditions?

Lots of jobs do have trial shifts to see if the potential staff like the job as much as the employer likes them.

We often struggle with this. Our job is in an industry that many people have no idea what it’s like to work in. We show them around at interview in depth. Then we offer a paid 3 day trial. So many people want to be paid cash in hand for it which we won’t do so they don’t want the job. They don’t want to risk not liking the job and then their benefits money being messed up. To be fair the answer is that if they’re worried about that then they probably weren’t looking for a long term job anyway.

There is also quite the admin burden for small businesses. To add someone as a new starter, Health and safety, pension postponement letter, bank details, right to work documents, social media background checks. We go through all of their which is a huge amount of time only for half our new starters to disappear. For small family businesses although they should be doing I can see there’s another side to the story.

I had this years ago at a large supermarket beginning with T. I was 21 and needed a part-time job while doing my masters. It was 20 hours a week and I had retail experience. Interview was evidently fine because they offered me a trail shift on clothing. Didn’t get the job. Feedback was that my trial shift was unacceptable. I’d been tasked with putting clothes in size order on rails. Which I knew I’d done correctly because the woman supervising me told me so! Ended working at another store where I was treated like utter shit so maybe I should have run a mile.

I think teaching interviews are different though. That said, I went for a head of year job once and there was no lesson but an assembly presentation and task. One of the candidates was internal and said the task was based on an absolute disaster of a day they’d tried to plan and clearly wanted someone to do the work for them. Didn’t get that either (although they did say I’d done the best planning and thank you very much). Should have gone home when I realised there were two internal candidates but hey ho.

I was going to say I think one trial shift is fine but having read the tactics of having nevereending young people on trial for free with nobody getting a job at the end of it, I've changed my mind. That needs to be stopped. Probationary days/weeks/months depending on the complexity of the job can easily be used - but labour should always be paid for.

I think interview lessons for teachers are a ridiculous comparison though. That's a part of the recruitment process for employers and a part of the interview prep for employees. Nobody's being exploited there, nobody's giving anybody free time by working for free and it's essential to know how someone teaches before you know if you want them to have the job. And that's coming from someone who interviews very well but inexplicably goes to pieces when someone's observing my teaching. It's my responsibility to do that well. Most professional job interviews have some form of presentation, assessment or task involved, surely. An interview alone won't tell you much.

Running a hospitality business we regularly get potential new staff in to do a trial shift, shadowing an existing member of staff in that role, to try & see if they're suitable and/or got the potential to fit our team & the job requirements.

It might be 2-3 hours for a waiting/bar job or longer for a chef role, but regardless of the outcome of the shift in is ALWAYS paid.
I think it's really unfair to ask someone to do it for free.

Yes, that was the point. The speaker suggested more emphasis should be given to demonstrating ability to do the job, than to an interview where you talk about doing the job- as would happen for a musician.

Shameless theft.

Imo if unpaid trial shifts are legal (not that I think they should be), there should be a strict cap I.e no more than 1-2 hours long and no more than once to make it as hard as possible for employers to use it to exploit people for free labour.

Theoretically given nearly all contracts have a probation period in them endless trials are unnecessary, and I’d be particularly wary of hospitality employers insisting on them during the summer or at Christmas as I’d almost certainly think they are just looking to get someone to do someones holiday cover for free or get an extra pair of hands during a busy period without having to pay.

Trial shifts - fine.

Unpaid - fuck right off.

Happened to my son, too. At a Subway branch. He did his trial shift (to test what? -- whether he could butter bread?) and just heard nothing more from them.

If he was good enough to offer a trial shift to, then he should have been given the job unless he made some significant errors. He didn't. All went well. He went on to get other similar jobs easily and do them well.

It just seemed like a free labour scam. I don't ever buy anything at Subway anymore, on principle.

I understand your frustration but I think a lot of unpaid work goes into obtaining a lot of jobs. My husband works in Events and frequently has to prepare a presentation on an event he would plan for the venue he is interviewing for as part of his application and send it in. They effectively get days of his time and ideas and research and expertise for free. We don't check back but I'd be surprised if they don't ever use their interviews for ideas!

I think it depends on the shift. An hour as part of an interview process yes, a full 4-6 hour shift no.

I used to run kids dance classes and used to ask potential teachers to prepare a trial class. But it was only ever a shortened half hour class (normal teaching day was 3-6 hours) followed immediately by an interview where the class was discussed.

What if you already have a job? Are you supposed to take annual leave to work for a profit-making company for free? 🤷🏼‍♀️

I'd say "Sure, no problem" then ghost them lol

I don’t know why anyone would work for free even for a minute. It’s just exploitative.

Dressage woman? She looks as hard as nails.

Any kind of unpaid work is unacceptable.
Edit: with the exception of school work experience.

My husband has to do a lot of this too. Personally I think it’s completely unacceptable. A verbal pitch, short written pitch fine, but asking for work which is then ripped off is ridiculous imo.

@QuantumLevelActions yep, that's her. I realised after posting that she's an eventer.

DD did a trial shift at her current job and the one before (pubs). She got both jobs so it wasn’t a problem for her. It also helped her decide if she wanted to work there.

I think we all have to stand up against this nonsense.

Unpaid 'trials', 15 million interviews just to be rejected at the end, AI scanning CV's etc.

Unless we collectively say no to all of this, companies will just keep doing what they do making us all think their torture is 'opportunity'.

I don't know what the agenda is but it's unbelievable and not acceptable.

Withdraw. It’s a violation. You’re either working or you’re not. None of this ‘unpaid trial’ crap.
If all candidates refused to participate in this unpaid labour, businesses would have to have a different approach.

This reminded me of something that happened to my DS. After COVID there was a scheme to get young people into work, a 6-month trial while being paid UC. This was a really awful job - think clearing houses, rats in the garden, God-knows-what on the walls. There were 4 young people on the trial, one was fired and one was always late so the odds of my DS getting a job were good. Roll forward 6 months and he was told he hadn't got the job because there was only one position but it turned out none of of the trial people were offered employment (we were on really good terms with the lady at DWP). We also found out the company had wanted to take on another bunch immediately but DWP got wise to them and turned off the free labour tap.
My DS learned a lot from that job, not only skills but interacting with older people so it wasn't wasted and he got a permanent job soon after. The scheme did help and I don't have any objection to people on UC doing trial shifts to get work experience but employers should not be allowed to take advantage.

We asked an apprentice to do an event but paid them for it. She was great and stayed for about 8 years.

Did a trial shift as a carer in covid, it was 6 - 12, ended up staying til 4, then they tried to give me a job in a totally different area than they had agreed and on nights when I had said i could only do earlies, i did not end up with a job

Again, brava. Everyone who exploits YP should be outed