Stop using take home tasks in hiring!

I’ve heard from a few Researchers who are currently looking for work, that they have been asked to do ‘take home tasks’ as part of many of the interviewing processes they are going through. One person (with many years experience) told me they were effectively being asked to design and execute a whole project and send a written report prior to interview. WTF?

What are you judging there? Whether they can execute a project? Surely the xxx years of experience shows you that? The quality of someone’s work? How is a hypothetical project a good example of quality? Um, you need the work done so you’ll get it done for free? Surely not!

Hiring managers, recruiters, please don’t include take home tasks in your process. It’s not inclusive and favours people without caring responsibilities. It’s far better to ask someone to talk through a case study or two in detail to get an idea of process, roles and responsibilities and quality of execution etc. Most people will have some case studies prepared.

If you are interviewing and feel able to give feedback, do - I realise you might not have this luxury though. I recently shared this piece written by Jane Austin, MBA with a recruiter and politely refused to do a task. The recruiter was actually grateful to be educated and the company have resolved to change their process in the future.

Let’s all try to do better!