Prospective employee rejects job for requiring 1 week trial period with no pay: 'A one week trial that requires office attendance and full employee level work is not a trial but unpaid labor'

Would you show up to a week of work without pay? What if that was what it took to get the job?

Getting a new job is famously not easy. You have to put yourself out there again and again just to get rejected. You have to know how to pitch yourself, and constantly do so to people who may or may not want to hear it. So when you get one bite on an offer, it can feel like you have to do whatever it takes to get that job. You have to bend to whatever it is they want out of you, even if it means compromising some of what you want out of a job. Every job requires some level of sacrifice, and sometimes you find out pretty early what a new one might ask of you. In the beginning stages, you do your best to be agreeable. But should there be a limit to this?

Odds are, you're probably searching for a job because you want to be compensated. Otherwise, you'd look for volunteer work. So that aspect of the job might be top of mind for you as you're in the interview process. And if the company seems to be asking for free labor, then isn't that a bit of a red flag? Or are there certain things you have to put up with in order to get the job of your dreams? Is a one-week trial period just one of those things that you have to swallow and move on from?

via Unsplash+ (Ahmet Kurt)

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Those are the questions that came up in this story, where a hopeful job-seeker cut short the hiring process for a position that otherwise seemed promising. When a request came up for a one-week trial period, they weren't so keen on the idea. Having to show up at an office for a week, and you don't even have the job yet? That seems like a precarious situation. Furthermore, it's unpaid? Now we're really not sure how to proceed. Read on for all the details of the story and see what comes up for you.
Rejected their "generous" unpaid one week trial...

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