There's been a lot of posts lately on LinkedIn regarding pre-employment "tests" and candidates spending a lot of time on these and never hearing back from the company.

Anonymous

August 12,2022 at 1:11PM UTC

Welcome to Fairygodboss!

We’re the largest online career community helping women achieve their career goals. Gain access to articles, jobs, events, and a supportive network of women and allies. Membership is free, always.

There's been a lot of posts lately on LinkedIn regarding pre-employment "tests" and candidates spending a lot of time on these and never hearing back from the company. This just happened to me - again. A well known, international company reached out to me on LinkedIn. After an initial screening interview with HR, they sent me a test along with a confidentiality agreement. They gave me a week to do it. I sent it in and never even got a confirmation email that they received it. I sent an email for confirmation and never heard back. This is why I'm no longer doing any tests. This has been rampant the past two years. I had one company ask me to write a 2000 word blog post in 2 hours, another wanted me to write a 10-page book outline. One company wanted to give me a drug test before the actual interview for a remote writing position! Not sure what's going on with recruitment but this is over-the-top and frankly may be blurring legal lines. If you get the sense the work is "live" - ask. If the person gets angry, you have your answer. Any "test" that takes more than an hour of your time should be paid. I won't be doing any more "tests." I have almost 25 years of experience and a portfolio with hundreds of clips. Why would a company need me to do a "test" to prove I can write?

Why women love us:

Daily articles on career topics
Jobs at companies dedicated to hiring more women
Advice and support from an authentic community
Events that help you level up in your career
Free membership, always

5 comments

Share your insight

Join an authentic community that helps women support each other at work. Share your professional experience or ask for advice — you can even post anonymously.

5 Comments

Join the conversation

JJAugust 12,2022 at 3:56PM UTC
Agree it has gotten out of hand and good candidates are being missed because of this exact situation.
TroyAugust 12,2022 at 4:47PM UTC
Valid points and I agree.
Julie HumbirdAugust 12,2022 at 9:19PM UTC
I can see having a writing sample but not hours of original work. Google wanted 3 interviews before requesting a 30 hour project logged in their Dev environment with 2 weeks. Amazon conducted an 8-hour tech interview that included an actor interrogate the candidate as a mock customer. I'm not sure who out there is agreeing to this stuff. I understand needing the right talent, but that's what probation periods are for.
AnonymousAugust 12,2022 at 9:33PM UTC
Exactly! Those requests by Google and Amazon are crazy! Some companies who are requesting these "tests" may very well use them. There was a person on LinkedIn who had to do some computer programming for a test and discovered the company used it in their game. He sued and won!
AnonymousAugust 13,2022 at 11:24AM UTC
I spent three hours or more with Pilot Oil to do these tests.
Total waste as after three interviews for corporate Accounting, references, etc, These were used against me.
Plus, I had passed MANY exams for Excel, analytics through Microsoft AND have credentials with an analytics firm.
Yet these "tests" said otherwise????
Other than "good morning" and "how are you?", I pretty much just do my job. I'm not a social butterfly!!!