Unpaid Work Proving You're the One Employer Should Hire - Novel Idea Is to Negotiate Payment

 "An employer [M. Stanfeld] has sparked fierce debate after being so shocked a Gen Z job seeker refused to spend 90 minutes on a hiring test because it “looked like a lot of work” that he vented about the situation on X, formerly known as Twitter." - Yahoo Finance, April 30, 2024

NOT GENERATIONAL

This issue is resonating because it's not a generational one, although it's been positioned and packaged by the media as one. How many of us, applying for a traditional full time job and contract work, have been "invited" to submit designated work, without compensation, in order to demonstrate our fit for hiring. 

YES, SOMETIMES IT'S LOTS OF WORK

Often that task takes longer than 90 minutes. For example in management consulting the assignment might require preparing (an unpaid) case study. In marketing that could be a strategic plan. Recently for me it was indirect: A professional service firm requested I take a "quick look" at their website. An expert in communications I knew the latent message. That was to provide helpful feedback. I wrote up an analysis. I got the assignment.

TO CAVE OR NOT TO CAVE

It depends, though, on many variables if we cave. For instance, if the organizational brand is prestigious and we wanted it our resume and there was a possibility of a future together I might comply. Many would do likewise. On my networks professionals tend to assess these situations on a case-by-case basis to determine if the opportunity is worth it. 

There is also the reality that at the time we may be low on income. 

As a coach I advise clients who are unemployed or even just terminated to grab what they can for money coming in. 

THE EXTREME RECKLESSNESS OF RIGIDITY

Sometimes it's downright reckless to assert any rigid principle about the free work demanded. Yes, what comes into play in this crazy labor market is to be flexible. 

In addition, learning not to be universally assertive is wonderful practice in the art of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace. My success as a serial entrepreneur has soared since 2020  when I began to analyze the extreme ability of Paul Weiss law firm chair Brad Karp to size up interactional dynamics and choose a response. It's career suicide to assume one model fits all or to not continually update the menu of options of ways of managing situtations as times change.

NEGOTIATING PAYMENT 

Meanwhile, Stanfeld has made a provocative suggestion. He notes that if the job applicant structured the situation as a deal he might have gone for it. Say, that person indicated for $1,000 they would do a bang-up job on the assignment. 

That way of managing the request for free work might emerge as the future. However the money has to be reasonable. Otherwise, things can sour fast.

Limiting beliefs? Self-defeating? Stuck? Complimentary consultation with Coach Jane Genova (text/phone 203-468-8579, janegenova374@gmail.com)