Would you work a day Pro-Bono? Opinion Pls!

[Omnimorph]

Well, I'd say go in, just to observe if for nothing else.

Keep in mind this is from someone who works in an office at the same level as a bunch of other people, and because i have programming experience i blatantly get asked to do things that aren't in my remit according to my job description. I get taken advantage of, and at first i just chalked it up to the old "hey, i'm getting experience here...", but after a while that becomes just an excuse.

Now i don't do anything extra for the company. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Lill-Leif]

If I was desperate for a job I would probably go through the day without getting paid.
But since I ain't.. I would refuse [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Onadan]

He might be trying to take advantage of the economic climate. I definitely wouldn't do any work for them or offer up any creative insight. Also, I'm a firm believer in time is money. If they want your time, they should pay you.

[MrB]

Training on what?

if it is proper training then it could be useful if you haven't worked at that kind of place but wanted to.

As long as you are benefiting from training and not giving them free work, I would go.

if there was not a job at the end of it or I thought the owner was messing me around i would not go.

[YendorLootmonkey]

When I got this job I'm currently at 8 years ago, I had a series of interviews at the corporate office (which took all day), followed by a site visit the next day to the actual facility I was going to be working at to do something similar to what she is being asked to do... observe what goes on, sit-in and receive some training, interact with my potential co-workers, etc.

I didn't consider it "work without pay". I didn't do any work. They were evaluating my fit with my co-workers and the team just as much as I was evaluating whether I wanted to work there or had any interest in doing the job I was observing. The point was... I wanted a job, and it was worth my time to pursue it.

Everyone is just automatically speculating this guy is trying to get work out of people for free for some reason. Well, here's the other side of that speculation: Maybe the guy that is hiring her had a bad experience with a bad "culture fit" at his shop, or he keeps losing people because they didn't quite know what they were getting into when he hired them, and now finds it important to bring someone in for a site visit so everyone can do some mutual evaluation.

As a manager, I would love to have the opportunity to a) make sure my co-workers will get along with a potential new hire before I make the decision to hire, and b) make sure the potential new hire is fully aware of what they are getting themeselves into by spending a day observing before I hire them, potentially lose the other applicants, and then that person decides a week later they hate the place and it's not for them. Especially if I have been burned in the past by either of the two scenarios.

[Loretta]

Thanx for the advice everyone! - I decided to not go with the work for free concept because he should of been able to make a decision after a 2.5 hour interview, where I showed my portfolio and what I was capable of, which leads me to believe he is a very strange employer and likely just wanted a days work out of me with no obligations.

If he then didn't like my work or we didn't mesh after a day or two he could always just fire me at that point and so what, he would of invested a little $ while I would of invested my time - My time is worth something and any professional employer realizes this of their employee's. I doubt I would want to even work there if he offered me a job at this point.

[Dantes]

Yeah, or he could have contracted you on a job or two instead of immediately doing a full time hire. Most legitimate agencies will contract with a person if they aren't 100% sure they want to hire them. Sounds pretty shady, it's a good thing you didn't go for it.

Nothing is free, unless you are helping out a non-profit for a good cause. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[YendorLootmonkey]

Originally Posted by Loretta [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If he then didn't like my work or we didn't mesh after a day or two he could always just fire me at that point and so what, he would of invested a little $

Uh, depending on your state, then he would be on the hook to pay out unemployment... so it may not have been as trivial for him as you suspect.

[Loretta]

In new york you have to make a certain amount of hours/$ over the course of 2 quarters in the year... so I think unless hes super paranoid that i'd sue him for discrimination or something else, and isnt really applying in this case. We're talkin about one day here.

[magic]

I've got a job for you.. RIGHT HERE