Making People Work for Free
Credit: Topic Simple
No, we are not talking about when you expect people to volunteer or work for “exposure” – although, that’s also a dick move. We’re talking about when you, as the hiring manager, expect people to essentially do a small portion of the job that you’re hiring them for as a “test.” This is endemic in writing and teaching jobs. Normally, the actual point of having wannabe employees provide things like writing samples or a sample syllabi is so that they can show generically they can do A Thing, and then you, hiring manager, are smart enough to figure out they can do Your Thing. When you require a sample tailored to your individual needs, what you’re actually saying is “I have no imagination and can’t extrapolate from the generic to the specific” or, worse still “I am actually harvesting your labor and selling it elsewhere.”