Viral post | Employer tries to get interviewee to fill in for absent staff - sparking debate on free labour

Interviews come in a variety of different formats. From competency-based quizzes to role-playing, there are a myriad of ways an employer can choose to assess a bunch of candidates.

In some businesses, trial shifts are necessary to see if a potential worker has what it takes to be there permanently, but some employers can exploit this process, getting free work out people.

This has been bought to light in a viral post on the sub-Reddit thread entitled ‘antiwork’. In the post, a disgruntled candidate expressed that they quickly turned down a job opportunity upon realising their interview was in fact a trial day, which they believed was their employer attempting to get five hours of “free labour” out of them.

The user, @Ophelia1988, wrote in the post that she had a job interview at 9am and would need to work a short trial day until 3pm. However, upon her arrival, the employer said she would need to do the trial shift first as the company was understaffed, leaving an hour at the end of the day for the interview itself.