Why Pay Candidates for Trial
Projects
It’s common practice these days for
employers to include a trial project as
part of the hiring process. Less
common, though, is for organizations
to pay candidates for the time they
spend completing those projects.
At Datapeople, we pay candidates for
the small projects we ask of them as
part of the hiring process. It’s
something we do because we
recognize that their time is valuable
and we want to create a more equitable
hiring process.
Interview teams may write job posts quickly,
use generic scorecards, and receive little to
no interview guidance from the hiring
manager. Interviewers may also repeat the
same questions about the candidate’s work
history and never paint a clear picture of the
role for the candidate.
The team may end up learning no more
than what’s already on an applicant’s
resume. Or, worse, the team may
formulate judgments based on biased
and superficial interpretations. And
even the best teams struggle with doing
it well at scale.
A trial project is an opportunity for hiring teams
to see a candidate’s work product. Not just
past work, which may lack relevance, but
current work based on exactly what the
employer does. Projects also give employers a
chance to learn how a candidate thinks and
approaches problems.
But projects also give candidates a
chance to assess a team and
company in return, according to
Datapeople. Candidates can see up-
close the kind of work an employer
does to gauge whether they want to
join the company.
There are lots of ways to structure trial
projects and many ways to pay candidates.
Trial projects can be as small as a two-hour
project or as big as a trial week or temp-to-
hire arrangement. Datapeople limits our own
trial projects to something candidates can
get done in an afternoon.
Questions for hiring teams to consider
include when to ask for the project, what
type of work the project should be, and how
much to pay for it. We typically wait until we
already want to work with the candidate, and
the trial project is just the final step before
we make an offer.
The type of work an employer chooses
depends on the end goal. Assigning projects
unrelated to your industry can assure
candidates that you aren't asking for free
work. Related projects can reveal how well a
candidate grasps your work and can give the
candidate a clear view of that work.
The amount an employer pays candidates
depends on many variables, from duration
of the project to recruiting budget.
Datapeople pays candidates a fair market
freelance rate for this interview step, which
isn’t a burden on the company but can be
valuable to the candidate.
Contact Us At:
https://datapeople.io/