A good phone interview gone bad; or, how to spot a coal in the rough

[actionjbone]

Background for this story: I'm on the job hunt right now, after having been downsized a couple of weeks ago.

I'm posting this for the benefit of the younger designers who haven't yet had much real-world job-hunting experience, and as a general reminder to know what you're worth and to keep watch for companies who don't:

Comments

[subsonique]

I work at a multinational software company with a strangely-small in-house graphics/marketing department. We're able to get by as a small team because we have corporate templates and standards that enable us to pump out high-volumes of quality work, quickly (of course, we have the one off pieces that we spend more time on as well).

When we were short-staffed, we had trouble getting people to come work with us and had positions open for a long time because the job descriptions were written by HR and didn't reflect what we did as a creative team. Nobody applied. As soon as that was fixed, we were flooded ... and we don't have a test in place, but I think it would have helped to have one when we went through our hiring phase because what A. was talking about DOES happen

[jerricurrl]

To partially agree with you:

I think there is a difference between a skills test and spec work ("well why don't you do a couple of small projects for us first and then if we like you we'll hire you"). www.no-spec.com has been cited in this community several times, and there are good arguments made there.

IME, a skills test is not that uncommon for a working environment that is fast paced and is heavy on the production end of things. My first job was like this, and I had to take a test that included redrawing a simple logo, placing type on a curve, resizing a photo to a certain set of specifications, and a few other (looking back on it, very simple) tasks.

That said, four hours seems like a *really* long time for a skills test.

[jerricurrl]

OP: "I'm posting this for the benefit of the younger designers who haven't yet had much real-world job-hunting experience..."

The OP is looking for a senior design job, but addressing the post to younger people as a warning. Maybe it should be more of a yellow flag than a red one.

[actionjbone]

"...and as a general reminder to know what you're worth and to keep watch for companies who don't."

After all, first-hand experience is useful to everyone, no matter his or her experience level. :)

[actionjbone]

Exactly: A probationary period. One place I recently interviewed (and that's another fun story for another day) has a 2-month probationary period: you're considered a full-time contractor; if they like you, they keep you; if they don't like you, you're out.

A mail house to which I applied a few years ago tested me with a quick direct mail sample and then one piece of actual freelance client work - and paid me reasonably for both pieces.

One other company sent me a low-res diagram and asked me to "redraw as much as I can in 20 minutes in Illustrator." Unpaid, but quick and easy - just a few minutes to see what I could do, so not unreasonable.

I have no problem showing people what I can do, and how well I can do it, as long as the request is reasonable. :)