> The next step in the process is a tryout day. It will be a full day of work, like an extended interview, and unpaid. Could you come in tomorrow?
I liked this until the unpaid part. Maybe there are just too many impossible laws and logistics to get around, but I've always thought it would be cool if more companies tried something out like a 10-day contract (paid of course) to make sure the job is a good fit, and so both parties can make an initial decision without as much risk.
The reason this doesn't work is that most people aren't going to quit their current job for something that isn't a definite offer of full time employment. Would you?
Involuntary unemployment does happen. And it's nice, when it does happen, that there are some companies around that will provide you with a day's labor for a day's wages, when you've got to put food on your family.
I wouldn't want to see all, or even most, companies do this. But for those of us not living in the Valley who need to support families, it's nice to know there are sources of employment out there if/when the poo hits the fan.
While it would be technically considered contract work, I think its a little short sighted to forgo a trial period because of what they called it. Its hard to see if an office would be a good fit in an hour or two, so I think the extended interview would work well.
Yes, but you can't schedule a 1099 contractor to be in your office 8-8. That's likely why they won't give you a phone or computer, but that doesn't mean someone required to be in the office 12 hours a day to provide an essential function of your business is a contractor.
Maybe it's not a 1099 situation then. You can, for example, hire an electrician and require they work only at night, or on the weekends, or whenever. It's clearly not outside the realm of possibility to pay someone to work in your office for a day. I have a hard time believing a Harvard MBA, McKinsey consultant couldn't wrap their head around the concept of contract work, not to mention labor laws.
Don't ever doubt the willingness of a Harvard MBA / McKinsey consultant to call an employee a contractor to save on the taxes and hassles like fair employment practices.
> It's clearly not outside the realm of possibility to pay someone to work in your office for a day.
Of course not. But when you pay someone to work in your office on a set schedule every day to do the things that you tell them to do and those things are central to your business? Well, you got yourself an employee.
That's really beside the point. We're not talking about paying them to work there every day. We're talking about paying them for one day as a trial, then deciding on whether they should be an employee or not.
I had an interview that involved two tryout days. I got paid $500 in amazon prime credit. Worked for me and the company, we got to really see what it would be like working together. I got to see the codebase, they got to see my code.
Paperwork and accounting -- it's way easier to just allocate a general slush fund of Amazon GCs or pre-loaded VISA cards than it is to get everyone to fill 1099s, pay accountants and what not just to pay people a few hundred dollars.
Most companies in countries without "at-will" employment do do this, except it's usually a six month trial contract. Not sure what you expect to find out in ten days.
I liked this until the unpaid part. Maybe there are just too many impossible laws and logistics to get around, but I've always thought it would be cool if more companies tried something out like a 10-day contract (paid of course) to make sure the job is a good fit, and so both parties can make an initial decision without as much risk.