How do you feel about take-home tests as part of the job interview process?

[ToddBonzalez]

So I'm interviewing for a new job. Had a phone interview that went decently. Next they send me a test project to complete and return to them. They say there's no deadline but candidates typically take a few weeks to a month+ to complete it. Reading the requirements, it's going to be somewhat difficult and will definitely require a good number of hours of work to complete. Not sure how I feel about it. It will feel like a massive waste of time if I don't end up getting the role.

Have you ever been through something similar (either a take home test or an on-site test) as part of an interview? How do you feel about something like that?

 

[Grug]

Outsource it.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Possibly a month of work that might not even get you the position?

I wouldn't do that shit unless I was desperate.

 

[woman]

A month +? What a failure of a recruitment process

 

[Pankratous]

The only thing an interview should ever have is a meeting between the applicant and the person(s) hiring.

No trial shifts, no role playing fantasy scenarios, no take-home work, no "if you were an animal what animal would you be" bullshit.

 

[Dullahan]

Walk away.

 

[Zoc]

I thought multiple interviews was already taking the piss, but this is just asinine. It's so easy for them to ask this of you, and equally easy to just toss whatever you send back. This kind of shit is what probationary periods and training are for.

 

[RiOrius]

A few hours is reasonable (and seems superior to the in-person whiteboard problem).

What exactly do you mean by "a month+"? Is that putting in a few hours on the weekend or working on it 9-5? Put it in number of hours.

 

[ara]

Yeah, that sounds like absolute bullshit.

I agree that a project that takes an hour or two to finish sounds fine and, like the poster above mentioned, definitely better than the whiteboard stuff, but anything else is ridiculous.

 

[IDreamOfHime]

Please do this job for a month without pay...and then not have a job at the end of it.

 

[finalflame]

I did one recently that "should take me 2 hours", but they gave me 2 days. It seems fine, I've done them for a few roles and they tend to be part of many rigorous tech interview loops.

 

[siddx]

Lol sounds like they figured out how to get people to do work for them without needing to pay them.

 

[Anjoys]

Sounds like free labour

 

[RestEerie]

A take home test that can take up to a month? What's that? A research paper on human Genome or stem cells? Theoretical physics? The meaning of life?

What's this job for anyway? Researcher?

 

[uncleniccius]

The only thing an interview should ever have is a meeting between the applicant and the person(s) hiring.

No trial shifts, no role playing fantasy scenarios, no take-home work, no "if you were an animal what animal would you be" bullshit.

Click to shrink...

Thre reason why these were introduced was because it became clear that traditional interviews were often not resulting in the best people being hired. Some people are terrible at interviews yet highly competent, and some are really good at interviews but suck at their job. These kind of activities help identify this.

In this case however, it does sound as though the amount of work is far beyond what is reasonable. Non-interview based recruitment isn't a bad thing though.

 

[ToddBonzalez]

A take home test that can take up to a month? What's that? A research paper on human Genome or stem cells? Theoretical physics? The meaning of life?

What's this job for anyway? Researcher?

Click to shrink...

It's a position that requires software/ technical skills.

 

[RestEerie]

It's a position that requires software/ technical skills.

Click to shrink...

why does it requires a take home test that can take up to a month to complete then? Most technical position accessed your knowledge on the spot with a 2hour test on the interview day (personal experience).

 

[Deleted member 41178]

So I'm interviewing for a new job. Had a phone interview that went decently. Next they send me a test project to complete and return to them. They say there's no deadline but candidates typically take a few weeks to a month+ to complete it. Reading the requirements, it's going to be somewhat difficult and will definitely require a good number of hours of work to complete. Not sure how I feel about it. It will feel like a massive waste of time if I don't end up getting the role.

Have you ever been through something similar (either a take home test or an on-site test) as part of an interview? How do you feel about something like that?

Click to shrink...

If it's in the six figure salary range I'd say it's not unheard of. Generally it's not a test as such though it's more of a project or time given for you to come back and present something.as

The last time I had to do something like this was to show how I would restructure a Technical Division, head count cuts, process to be bought in(including training and velocity loss etc) distribution of labour to other divisions. They basically said to get back in touch when I was ready to present. It took me close to a month before I was happy with it.

For most technical hires I'm making now I just get them to sit an online test after a quick chat on the phone, if that goes well we get them in for a face to face and meet the team.

 

[subpar spatula]

Don't fucking do it and put them on blast on Twitter, glassdoor, etc. Put pics of the test online too. No company should be allowed to get away with this shit.

 

[Ikuu]

They're taking advantage of you for free work, take home tests should take a few hours at most.

 

[whatsinaname]

We do it for our coding positions. Usually something small and not central to our work. We do pay them a full time wage at the rate of the salary of the position we are loooking to hire them for.

As a small company (10 people), the overhead of hiring and then finding out the employee is not a good fit is prohibitively expensive.

 

[Prophet Steve]

I already have my doubts over the usefulness of an assignment for a few hours, but this just sounds super unreasonable.

 

[aerie]

Thread locked at OP's request.