Interview expectations: employer asking for detailed presentation...

[Startingagainandagain]

I applied for a part-time, temp freelance role with a charity (Fundraising and marketing).

I have been offered an interview but they said it will involve a 10 minute presentation on the 'key components of a marketing and fundraising strategy for the next 3 years'.

Am I right to think that this is taking the piss?

My reaction is to cancel the interview and tell them that this is what they should be paying for/what they are hiring a consultant/freelancer to do (do research, create a strategy and start implementing it) not something they should ask of candidates at the interview stage.

It sounds to me like they just want some free advice from everyone.

Sounds exactly like it from what you've said. Maybe you should do a presentation on how you'd consult with everyone and gather the information and rehash the organisations key values. Then put your costings and the different level of package they'd get for your costings.

Not uncommon and as you rightly suspect a ploy to get your experience for free. I suppose it depends on whether you need/want the job or not.

You could tell them that you don't do 'death by PowerPoint' and have one slide with strategy as the header and then talk about stakeholder analysis and engagement as your starting point but you'll be able to give them a fuller analysis when in the role.

Do you have the information you would need to give a real plan for their organization, or would this presentation not be an example of what a plan would look like? If the latter, then I don't see the problem.

Thank you for all the comments already!

To answer @sonjadog, no there is no information given, so it either it would be something very general/topline or they expect the candidates to do a lot of research themselves and present something tailored to the charity already.

I supposed I could do something really basic but it making me a bit dubious about the organisation.

It's sad when you see a company for their true colours!

Charities aren’t exactly ramrod straight types. The combo of being able to claim a good cause and the planet’s best professional beggars doesn’t bring out the best in most.

You’re being had. I would do the presentation and copyright every slide hard - explain that it’s confidential and can only be actioned when you get the job.

I know someone who did this and successfully sued the CFs when they took her plan and didn’t hire her. Charities rely on not being sued (see above) and this one was outraged. Yay.

A detailed presentation for a TEMP role, not even a permanent salaried pensionable one? WTF are they on?

😅😅😅

@Startingagainandagain In that case, I would present potential ideas, rather than a tailored plan for them. I wouldn't go to the bother of finding out the information you would need for a plan designed for them.

Thank you everyone for the comments!

Nice to see that most people are in agreement that this is poor practice.

If I decide to do the interview/presentation it will be one slide with just basic bullet points stating how I usually approach this type of work as a consultant and nothing tailored to the charity.

I will wait to see how my week is shaping up and might cancel completely as I have another interview for something permanent on the same day.

How temporary is the role? I haven't been through a single interview process in 25 years that didn't involve a presentation, even for contract roles.

It's a highly competitive area so they need to distinguish between candidates. You only need to show your approach, not the solutions. How much do you think they are going to get out of you in 10 minutes?

Ten minutes isn't a detailed presentation. I just interviewed for non-profit position and I gave a ten minute presentation. It's how it's often done - I've made a short presentation for almost every interview I've had. It wouldn't have been good enough for them to steal and follow because I simply don't know enough about their business yet. I spent maybe six hours preparing for the interview, including the presentation, because I really wanted the job.

Get chat gpt to do it, but don’t mail your presentation in advance or leave a copy with them. Cheeky fuckers.

I work for a charity and a presentation is a standard part of our selection process for any roles that require a people-facing, public speaking element such as marketing and fundraising. How else would we know if candidates have the skills needed for a role that will probably involve a lot of presenting without asking them to present something?

There's a lot of implication in posts here that the charity is trying to get something for nothing and that's somehow dodgy. People seem to think that because it's a charity it shouldn't be asking for a professional level of application. Remember the charity has a duty to make the best use of the funds they manage by spending money wisely and recruiting the best candidate for the role.

That might not be you if you really think a 10 minute presentation is expecting too much.

Why wouldn't a fundraising role interview ask the candidate to explain how they would do it? Or any other role?

That's all presentations are. The candidate getting the chance to prepare the answer to a relevant question in advance, and well.

I have worked for charities for decades and as a senior manager I never ask of candidates to present a strategy for the organisation at interview stage.

When I ask them to do a task/presentation I narrow it down to something specific/concise so I can check their communications skills without expect them to do strategic work for free...

''@Provocateur
Get chat gpt to do it, but don’t mail your presentation in advance or leave a copy with them. Cheeky fuckers.''

Interestingly they are asking for a copy of the presentation to be emailed a day before.

If you think they're going to steal from you, you don't want to work for them. If you want or need the job anyway make the presentation general - talk about how a non-profit in this general space could approach their marketing and fundraising strategy. Don't make it too charity-specific. Send a version of the presentation which is just slides, no notes. In mine I recommended a particular kind of high-profile, expensive project which I thought would be wonderful but probably too rich for their blood. In the slide of risks/drawbacks I was careful to point out the potential expense/time commitment. It showed that I know what I'm doing but didn't really contain details you could use for action.

I disagree with others. This is to understand your thinking and approach - and your comms skills.

I work in product development and always ask for a short presentation for the above reasons. I promise you I’ve never had a candidate that tells me something we’ve never thought of before!

Keep it high level, cover the key areas and be prepared to be probed on your thinking.

good luck if you go for it!!!

Agreed.

@Startingagainandagain you might not ask candidates to give a presentation but many many companies do. It's as I said before- to give you the "interview question" beforehand, see your presentation skills, see if you're up to it.

At senior manager level, tbh, I'd expect to have to do a far more detailed presentation than 10 minutes.

It is not a competitive field. Employers are struggling to find good people.

It sounds like a typical approach for a marketing role, but it's absolutely set up that they can take the best ideas from the day.

I'd be going with one slide and talk in overview, rather than a more detailed presentation.

I've worked across Charity, health and fintech and never NOT been asked to do a presentation. And sometimes they've been 30 minute ones.

It's really helpful to see how people think through and actually produce work, rather than answer stock questions with stock answers. I've also recruited for dozens of roles and nothing anyone has ever said has ever been usable or something we'd not thought of - you don't have enough information about the charity and what their goals are so how could you?

My last one as rather funny as they asked for a startegy for a company of my choice and then asked things like how would you verify that assumption, and I would answer, well, when I did fake research for this fake project, I fake interviewed a bunch of people :D I got the job, and they haven't used my fake proposal for anything.

To update people I have been offered another interview for a permanent role that clashed on the day with this interview offer. This charity would not reschedule the time they gave me so I withdrew from this one.

I had too many concerns about it: no flexibility with interview time, presentation, but also the fact that they expected this temp/freelance role to manage various freelancers. Basically they are recruiting only part-time freelancers to do all the marketing/fundraising roles rather than getting a permanent team together and it would be a logistic nightmare to manage.

Good luck with your other interview. I think you dodged a bullet with the original one…

10 minutes is nowhere near enough to do anything useful, and nothing they couldn’t get from Chat GPT in 30 seconds. Choose any old marketing framework from the internet and use the time to talk about how amazing you would be at each of the stages. E.g.

Stakeholder analysis - I have extensive networking skills which I could used to engage with key stakeholders.
Market analysis - I was responsible for carrying out a market analysis for CocaCola in Indonesia, etc.

By the end of the 10 minutes they’ll wonder how they managed without you.

Ahh sorry - should have read to the end!