In the course of telling one of my candidates whom I haven't heard from in a while about a possible job opportunity she'd be a good match for, I got some news about some rather upsetting practices by one of the design firms in Stamford. I won't name names here, because libel gets pretty ugly and the courts don't distinguish between libel that's true and libel that's not. More's the pity.
My candidate, who I'll call Entry-level Jen (names changed to protect the victim), applied for a job with SSC ("Said Stamford Company", for convenience, also a fictitious name and abbreviation). She went to the job interview, met with everyone, met with senior designers, etc. etc. Took hours. A bit unusual given the length of the interview, but all in all a very positive sign for her. If they're taking the time to show you around to the different head designers and senior art directors, you've got promise. So far, so good. Remember, gentle readers, Jen approached this company on her own - I guarantee you had she gone through an agency they would have put a stop to the nonsense immediately.
SSC then tells Jen, "We need to evaluate your skills. Please come back tomorrow for a couple of proficiency tests." In and of itself, this is not a problem. It's poor time planning not to have the applicant take any such tests right then and there, but when hiring someone for specific skillsets it's a good idea to get a sense of what they can actually do vs. what they stuck in their portfolio. Again, not the problem.
Theft of Professional Services!
But the actual problem was this: the "tests" included working for them from 9am-7pm for THREE DAYS. During this time, Jen did not take part in tests meant to evaluate her skills, but rather she was given a computer and told to do various designs and projects. Were these projects which had been assembled from old files in order to see how her solutions to the graphics problems compared to those that actually went to press? NO. These jobs were -LIVE JOBS-. They were actual work that SSC was doing as part of their push to get an annual report done for a paying client.
Let me reiterate that: SSC was using Jen's "interview" as an excuse to get her to do work and provide designs for FREE which they in turn tried to pass off to their actual client. She received no money. No compensation. No guarantees. What she did do, actually, was get told that she needed to sign a release form which guaranteed that SSC got full rights to the designs that she created during her "test".
This isn't just a mistake made by an overeager HR/Recruiter trying to satisfy demanding internal line managers. The fact that SSC specifically required Jen sign a waiver is the clincher for premeditation. This is an abusive practive. They robbed her of goods and services under false pretenses. When she wrote to inquire about the job, they told her that their client still hadn't gotten back to them and they would call her to let her know.
Mmm hmmm. Suuuuuuuuuure they will.
If by any chance someone trying to break into Graphic Design reads this entry in the blog, PLEASE learn -right now- that ANY job interview which requires you to work FOR FREE on LIVE JOBS from which the agency is going to make a PROFIT is robbing you at psychological gunpoint. The advertising agency world DOES NOT OPERATE THIS WAY.
If by any chance someone from, oh, say, SSC's real company reads this... you should be ashamed of yourself. Just who did you think you were fooling by this pathetic charade? Yourself, obviously, since you don't seem to quite understand just how -small- the Graphic Design industry is outside of Manhattan. I've already taken steps to drop a word to the wise in the ears of all of my friends on the recruiting circuit. Word is going to get out, so hopefully no one else will fall victim to the same abuse and theft.
Any time a designer is asked to be on site for any kind of work purposes, they need to be getting paid. Any time a designer is doing work for someone else's paying client, they need to be getting paid. I'm not lying to you when I say that 3 days worth of work from a talented designer can get close to $1500, especially freelance going direct to a company. (You might have to wait 90 days after the project is completed to get paid, and you'll have to pay your own taxes & FICA out of it, but figure $500/day is about normal for guesstimates.) Suddenly that's not such a small thing to be robbing from someone, is it?
Well, Jen is chagrinned but has learned from the experience. We'll see what comes of grassroots advocacy. "I'm sorry, Your Honor, but if SSC didn't want the negative press they shouldn't have engaged in the unethical interview practices."
No comments:
Post a Comment