When Not to Do the Interview Assignment

You are desperate for a job, and you are in the interview process when a company asks you to do an assignment.

This is good news!

Receiving an assignment is an indication that a company is serious about hiring you. They want to see if you are capable of doing work to their expectations.

I have interviewed at several companies. I have only done assignments for startups or small/small-medium-sized companies.

After doing an assignment, I’ve thought: This is great, I am moving forward in the interview process! Shortly after this, I will get hired.

The second set of thoughts are: What are they even looking for? How “good” of a job do I have to do? Of course I need to do more than what is asked, but how above and beyond should I go?

I have never refused to do an assignment, except for this recent assignment that seemed to be an obvious exploitation of me. I said no.

I began to reflect back on all the times I agreed to complete assignments without a second thought.

Job seekers are in a vulnerable position where they are expected to spend their own time, money and expertise in efforts to land a job.

However, there are a few things to think about when accepting assignments and projects as “homework.”

The first and most obvious question to ask yourself is, is it relevant to the job I applied to, and why was it assigned to me?

If an employer has doubts about a candidates’ abilities, it is perfectly fine for that employer to assess the candidate’s capabilities and thinking process further.

Maybe the candidate was shy or was more junior level in experience. Maybe the candidate didn’t have very many projects in their portfolio to show.

If you are applying to a web developer role, it is normal to be sent over a coding challenge or a short exercise. In this case, the code itself will not be used in the company.

If you are asked to do anything that may be repurposed — such as design or strategy work — proceed with caution.

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