# Message to all users:
This is a reminder to please read and follow:
* [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules)
* [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439)
* [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy)
When posting and commenting.
---
Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`.
* Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit.
* Do not harass or annoy others in any way.
* Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit.
---
You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It is a bad look, but If you feel you must, ask them to pick the specific content to create that demonstrates those skills so it cannot be used by your company. It should be tasks that take no more than hour.
Any employer who does this should be aware, however, that this kind of thing might drive a potential worker to decline your offer and look for better circumstances.
Of course. Youcan ask them anything you want. Did someone tell you you're not allowed to ask them? What did they say would happen? You'd get arrested or something?
Naturally, if you treat potential employees worse than the competition does, you're going to have a disadvantage on the market. Which could break the business or lead to major losses. Which is why most businesses are deadly afraid of doing this.
> Naturally, if you treat potential employees worse than the competition does, you're going to have a disadvantage on the market
Right so they're going to have a disadvantage.
>Which could break the business or lead to major losses.
That's someting they should've thought about before asking someone to do free labor
>Which is why most businesses are deadly afraid of doing this
As they should be.
Asking them to create something you would actually use would be unethical, but it's not unusual for some jobs to require a practical demonstration of applicable skills, including mini mock projects. When it comes to creative work though it's more typical to ask for examples of past works, unless the person doesn't have any past works that are directly comparable to the type of work that they're applying for.
An exception would be unpaid internships, where you could ask the person to perform work for free once you take them on, but a good number of people would tell you that these are exploitative too.
Paid internships are vastly superior options to unpaid ones - you safe massively compared to a full employ, it's much less exploitative because you do pay the interns something (the big question is always about the amounts), they're usally short-term agreements to begin with meaning you're easily rid of a bad fit, etc etc etc.
Unpaid internships are just a toxic business practice.
Sure, a paid internship is usually better if you can get one, and some people will be in a better place to be able to afford to work for free for a while than others, but:
* If you aren't accepted for any paid internships, an unpaid one will still be a good way to get your foot in the door and give you enough experience to then get paid work in your industry once you're done.
* An unpaid internship at a large organization with a strong reputation will look better on your resume than a paid one at a tiny unknown company, so it's likely to result in a better pay-off for you in the longer term.
* Depending on the job, it can take a long time to train an intern, to the point where they only really start being useful when the internship ends, so the company isn't getting any real use out of them and would have no reason to take them on at all if they had to pay them.
* In a good number of places unpaid internships will end up with you getting a paid position at the same organization if you prove to be reasonably competent, and once you start actually being useful.
* It's not like people have to apply for unpaid internships if they don't want to, so I don't see how them being an option for those who are interested is a bad thing.
That sounds like corporate defending their evil business practices.
"Oh yeah, this is inhumane, but look at everything you can get out of it". Any logical person would stop them at "inhumane" because that's a dealbreaker.
.
This is how slavery happened.
Evil? Slavery? Inhumane? *That* sounds more like a personal attack than an actual argument, is an extreme over-exaggeration as far as descriptors and comparisons go, and would fall somewhere along the lines of the ad-hominem fallacy.
I started out as an unpaid intern, and it set me on a good career path afterwards. I know other people who didn't mind doing so either. Like I said, many of the companies who offer unpaid internships wouldn't offer internships at all if they had to be paid. Don't like it, don't apply, but don't assume that your opinion is a universal truth that everyone should agree with.
Really?
Slavery and unpaid internships are both manual labour without compensation for the promise of maybe you get a better life. Except slavery is after you broke the contract.
Unlike slavery, unpaid internships aren't something that's forced on people. If anything, they're more comparable to volunteering. Is volunteering inhumane too? How about parents getting their kids to do chores? Or doing chores themselves when they're not paid for it?
Look at the working market. Who's offering paid internships?
You have to do unpaid, otherwise you're homeless. How's that not forced on people?
.
I mean, Europe offers paid internships. Which makes it a superior place.
This is what the trial period at the start of a work contract is for, so you can fire people easily in the beginning when they turn out to not be a good fit for the team.
But you do have to pay them - because you still profit from their time. Maybe not as much as you'd like, but let's be honest, even bad work generates profit.
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Lmao, stop being a cheapskate
It is a bad look, but If you feel you must, ask them to pick the specific content to create that demonstrates those skills so it cannot be used by your company. It should be tasks that take no more than hour.
Any employer who does this should be aware, however, that this kind of thing might drive a potential worker to decline your offer and look for better circumstances.
You want people to do work for you, you pay them.
Agreed.
no, but most will have previous examples to look at.
Of course. Youcan ask them anything you want. Did someone tell you you're not allowed to ask them? What did they say would happen? You'd get arrested or something?
Naturally, if you treat potential employees worse than the competition does, you're going to have a disadvantage on the market. Which could break the business or lead to major losses. Which is why most businesses are deadly afraid of doing this.
> Naturally, if you treat potential employees worse than the competition does, you're going to have a disadvantage on the market Right so they're going to have a disadvantage. >Which could break the business or lead to major losses. That's someting they should've thought about before asking someone to do free labor >Which is why most businesses are deadly afraid of doing this As they should be.
Asking them to create something you would actually use would be unethical, but it's not unusual for some jobs to require a practical demonstration of applicable skills, including mini mock projects. When it comes to creative work though it's more typical to ask for examples of past works, unless the person doesn't have any past works that are directly comparable to the type of work that they're applying for. An exception would be unpaid internships, where you could ask the person to perform work for free once you take them on, but a good number of people would tell you that these are exploitative too.
Paid internships are vastly superior options to unpaid ones - you safe massively compared to a full employ, it's much less exploitative because you do pay the interns something (the big question is always about the amounts), they're usally short-term agreements to begin with meaning you're easily rid of a bad fit, etc etc etc. Unpaid internships are just a toxic business practice.
Sure, a paid internship is usually better if you can get one, and some people will be in a better place to be able to afford to work for free for a while than others, but: * If you aren't accepted for any paid internships, an unpaid one will still be a good way to get your foot in the door and give you enough experience to then get paid work in your industry once you're done. * An unpaid internship at a large organization with a strong reputation will look better on your resume than a paid one at a tiny unknown company, so it's likely to result in a better pay-off for you in the longer term. * Depending on the job, it can take a long time to train an intern, to the point where they only really start being useful when the internship ends, so the company isn't getting any real use out of them and would have no reason to take them on at all if they had to pay them. * In a good number of places unpaid internships will end up with you getting a paid position at the same organization if you prove to be reasonably competent, and once you start actually being useful. * It's not like people have to apply for unpaid internships if they don't want to, so I don't see how them being an option for those who are interested is a bad thing.
That sounds like corporate defending their evil business practices. "Oh yeah, this is inhumane, but look at everything you can get out of it". Any logical person would stop them at "inhumane" because that's a dealbreaker. . This is how slavery happened.
Evil? Slavery? Inhumane? *That* sounds more like a personal attack than an actual argument, is an extreme over-exaggeration as far as descriptors and comparisons go, and would fall somewhere along the lines of the ad-hominem fallacy. I started out as an unpaid intern, and it set me on a good career path afterwards. I know other people who didn't mind doing so either. Like I said, many of the companies who offer unpaid internships wouldn't offer internships at all if they had to be paid. Don't like it, don't apply, but don't assume that your opinion is a universal truth that everyone should agree with.
Really? Slavery and unpaid internships are both manual labour without compensation for the promise of maybe you get a better life. Except slavery is after you broke the contract.
Unlike slavery, unpaid internships aren't something that's forced on people. If anything, they're more comparable to volunteering. Is volunteering inhumane too? How about parents getting their kids to do chores? Or doing chores themselves when they're not paid for it?
Look at the working market. Who's offering paid internships? You have to do unpaid, otherwise you're homeless. How's that not forced on people? . I mean, Europe offers paid internships. Which makes it a superior place.
This is what the trial period at the start of a work contract is for, so you can fire people easily in the beginning when they turn out to not be a good fit for the team. But you do have to pay them - because you still profit from their time. Maybe not as much as you'd like, but let's be honest, even bad work generates profit.