Paulina Wardęga, a recruitment expert and founder of the platform with recruitment tests of Heroify, still remembers the recruitment that has opened her eyes to the problem of recruitment tasks. She was asked to prepare a detailed marketing strategy to promote a new product. When she asked about the salary, she heard that “it was only about seeing how she thought.” Ultimately, she did not get a job, and experience itself became one of the reasons for starting her own company. – I heard that this approach does not match the company's culture. And good. But then I thought about people who have been looking for a job for months and have no strength to refuse – he recalls.
All experts agree: recruitment tasks make sense. Especially if they are well designed, proportional and preceded by transparent communication. The problem begins when they resemble finished orders – often based on a real brief. For this reason, some of them give up.
Employers must verify the competences of the candidate
Maja Gojtowska, a recruitment specialist, knows that the topic of recruitment tasks today raises a lot of emotions, especially in creative and technological industries, where it is not difficult to find abuse.
– Transparency is the basis and I always encourage employers to it. The candidate should know what the purpose of the task is, how much time should he take, who assesses it and whether its effects can be used commercially – emphasizes the expert. He adds that the lack of such information should light a red lamp to candidates – especially in the case of tasks that attach to the real needs of the company.
Karol Wasilewski, Head of Recruitment at RITS admits that the fear of candidates before using the solutions, ideas or concepts passed in the recruitment process is understood.
– Recruitment tasks can be very complex and are based on original concepts. It is worth emphasizing that from the moment they are created, they are protected by copyright – the candidate is the creator and has the full right to decide how to use his work – he points out.
Can the candidate ask for a confidentiality clause?
-A good and more and more often used solution is to propose to the company signing a confidentiality agreement (NDA) before transferring the task, especially when it contains know-how, innovations or solutions used professionally-explains Wasilewski. – Many companies offer NDA to show from the beginning that they focus on the quality and safety of the recruitment process.
The expert adds that securing his work in the recruitment process is an expression of professional maturity and self -awareness. For the company, it can be a testimony of how the candidate will care for her interests.
Paulina Wardęga is skeptical about this idea. – In theory, signing NDA is a great solution, but in practice it rarely works. If this is not a company, and the candidate comes out with such an initiative, it becomes a problem for the company even before it hires it.
As the expert explains, the signing of such a contract already generates additional work. Each contract must go through subsequent departments, including a meticulous legal department. What's more, in practice it is very difficult to enforce such a clause. – It is difficult to prove in court that someone did not have a similar idea before, especially when the other party has the support of the entire lawyers' staff – he adds.
In the realities of the current labor market, where several hundred people are sometimes applied to one position, a candidate with additional requirements can be quickly rejected. -Besides, if the task is so comprehensive that unique know-how is transmitted, it sounds more like a consulting project. And so it should be priced.
Should you pay for recruitment tasks?
– Companies that want candidates not to give up the next stage should, above all, treat their time and effort with respect – emphasizes Maja Gojtowska. – It is good practice to compensate for the work put into more complex recruitment tasks, about which the expert recently wrote on her blog. – It doesn't have to be a full market rate, but a symbolic salary or a voucher is a signal: “We respect your time.”
Paulina Wardęga in her company uses her own approach to recruitment tasks. At the last stage of recruitment, when 2-3 candidates are left, he offers them a budget (PLN 500-1500) and asks to propose 2-3 mini projects that would address the company's real challenges. Then he chooses one of them and orders it.
– The candidate decides what he wants to demonstrate, and I check his proactivity and thinking, and I can later use a ready task – he explains. The salary additionally motivates the potential employee and increases his commitment. – Nobody wants his ideas to be used for free. But creating the tasks “for a drawer”, which nothing will happen with later, can be equally demotivating.
However, this approach has its limitations. Not every company can afford to pay candidates. – On the other hand, when we combine it with several times higher at the cost of employing an inappropriate candidate, it looks like a great investment – explains the expert.
Recruitment during the AI generative times
In the era of AI and the growing awareness of candidates, a traditional approach to recruitment tasks requires revision. As Paulina Wardęga emphasizes, when we order a specific task to perform a specific task, we check exactly whether the candidate can do this specific task.
– We live at a time when reality changes dynamically. Tasks that took several hours two years ago and required knowledge of specific methodologies and tools, today you can do in a few minutes with the help of AI tools. Candidates, moreover, also often support them when performing recruitment tasks – emphasizes the expert.
– If the company wants to assess the way of thinking and is looking for an flexible employee who will find himself in the reality of changing conditions and requirements, he should ask about the methodology, look at the questions asked and check the approach to the implementation of the task, not a ready effect – he adds.
The key is to go from checking specific skills to researching the way of thinking and approach to work. – We will confirm that the candidate will cope with most tasks, regardless of their specificity – sums up the expert.
Maja Gojtowska adds that companies that honestly approach this stage of recruitment not only attract better candidates, but also build their brand as an employer. This key is transparency, proportionality and respect – Three pillars of a healthy approach to recruitment tasks.
