Should You Do That Free Project for the Job Interview?
A Client's Dilemma 🤔
I recently got a message from a client named Amy who was feeling conflicted about a request she received during a job interview process. Amy was asked to do a free project for the company as part of their evaluation for potentially hiring her. While she really wants this job, she's unsure if she should be doing free work for them without any guarantee she'll actually get hired after completing the project.
The Rise of "Evidence-Based Hiring"
Amy reached out to me for advice on how to approach this situation. I can completely understand her concern. This practice of "evidence-based hiring" is becoming more and more common, with employers really scared of making costly hiring mistakes coming out of the Great Resignation era.
Companies don't want to just rely on things like resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and interviews to evaluate candidates anymore. They want to see actual work samples and proof that you can truly do the job before extending a job offer. While this approach makes sense from the employer's perspective of trying to de-risk their hiring, I know it can feel like you're being asked to do free work without any assurance that you'll get the position.
Amy is worried about putting in all this effort on a project for them, only to have the company take her ideas without actually hiring her in the end. It's a totally valid concern.
How to Approach the Free Project ✍️
Here's my advice - you should absolutely do the project, but in a very strategic way. Don't just complete the assignment and hand it over. Instead, use a SWOT analysis framework (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to highlight the immense value you would bring to the role.
Catastrophize the Situation
Work with me to catastrophize every possible thing that could go wrong if they don't hire the right person for this job. Think about your competition - internal candidates with deep knowledge, more junior/cheaper hires, etc. Then vividly paint that doomsday scenario of how those hires could derail the goals and objectives for this role.
By outlining all the potential pitfalls in such granular detail, you prove your own extensive expertise without giving away your full "secret sauce." The employer will think "Wow, there's no way this person could anticipate all these problems so accurately if they didn't really know their stuff."
Present the High-Level Plan 📑
From there, present a high-level 6 to 12-month plan of how you would approach the job, focusing more on the reasoning behind your process rather than the implementation details. Explain why each step is crucial and how the wrong hire could bungle things at every juncture.
This catastrophizing builds a sense of fear in the employer's mind about not having you in this role. Suddenly, they feel like they desperately need to hire you to avoid all those horrible consequences you mapped out so convincingly.
Become the Must-Have Candidate
By adeptly showing your vast knowledge and the huge risks of not hiring you, you position yourself as the must-have candidate. Now you're in the driver's seat when it comes to negotiating higher pay and better perks because the company will be too afraid to lose you.
Get Pro Advice from Work It DAILY 👍
I really hope these tips give you a framework for approaching this free project request in a way that leads to you landing the job and getting everything you want from the offer.
If you want even more professional guidance on situations like this, I invite you to try Work It DAILY with a 7-day FREE trial. As the CEO, I've built a team of trained career experts to advise people on their unique career challenges. We can work through any dilemma together and put an airtight strategy in place.
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Go get ‘em!
J.T. O’Donnell
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