Ask HN: Would You Accept a Trial/Exploratory Week Before Joining a Company?

No. Good candidates don't want or need this. Like every other job-related product or service, this is optimizing for the employer, not the employee.

It's a engineer's market right now. Find ways to make it easier for them.

Last year I piloted a project where I paid engineers ~$375 for 4 or 5 hours to work through code with me. By the end of it, if they were an engineer I would work with, I would recommend them to a select group of companies that I felt were the best places to work (great product, team, environment). The condition was that when I referred an engineer, they must be considered to have already passed the technical interview. At that point, they were simply there to see if they were a cultural fit and talk tech. Maybe some light technical questions, no white boarding or trivia.

This afforded the candidates the ability to fast track to the final round of an interview with 5-6 companies. And they got paid to do it.

It worked remarkably well, all parties loved, and it to this day I still get emails from companies and candidates asking if I'm still doing it. Alas, I a full-time founder and cannot do that anymore.

But should anyone want to take my idea, I can assure there is a demand for it, and it pays incredibly well.

If this is your idea: This is a weird, bad deal for the applicant. Only desperate people will put up with the hassle and the insult. I predict you will be shocked when these desperate candidates are not as good as you wanted. Please do not take advantage of vulnerability any more than the world already is.

If someone’s suggesting it to you: You deserve better.

Am I getting this wrong, or did everyone else in thread got it wrong? Is the question more from candidate point of view, whether to join a company if you enjoy working for the trial period?

If my assumption is correct, the candidate will fall in this situation if they didn't already clear up the expectations, roles and responsibility before/during the interview. A friend of mine recently found himself in a situation where they decided to quit after working for less than 2 weeks at an early stage startup. He ended up quitting by the end of the month.

I believe it's a shared responsibility to clear up such things before making an offer (from company's POV) or accepting an offer (from candidate's POV). This situation doesn't help either party.

Personally no, because that's what the 6 month trial period is for in Germany. On the other hand, I rejected offers which required this, and I know quite a few stories from friends where it was required too. In the end it depends on how bad you want/need the job.

If I were unemployed, probably. If I were employed, absolutely not: I'm not going to violate my employment contract nor risk vacation time. Also, top performers are rarely unemployed.

Yes, if it comes with a signing bonus equivalent to 6 months' pay, wired to my bank account before the first day of the 1-week trial. The 1-week trial itself also has to be paid.

This feels like something that is only remotely feasible for contractors or recent grads living with their parents. The interview process is enough of a logistical PITA for most of us. Extending it to a week is comically stupid. Besides, we already have one week trial periods in the USA. It's called at will employment. It would be nice to say take a month and try out 4 companies before making a move, but I can't see how that would ever work for your average senior dev with a job, kids, and a mortgage payment.

The American phrase for this is contract-to-hire. You hire someone on a short-term hourly basis, with the understanding that this is a trial period that can be easily terminated by either side.

The huge downside for the employer is that you're never going to hire away anyone from another company, so you're pretty much cutting out anyone who isn't very junior.

Been asked before. Said no immediately. Got the job.

If they ask that means you are good enough for the job.

How are people supposed to do this unless they are unemployed?

Don't probation periods already exist?

Of course not. Where would I get the week? I'd have to burn vacation time. I'm not going to come join your company unless I really want to work with you.

I certainly would. It's often about discovering the actual people in the company more than advertised culture or engineering skills.

If it is paid, absolutely.

This would be an interesting study to do, prospectively. I'd be interested in collecting measures for both sides. By the way, some universities do this during "shopping week".

Absolutely not worth the time.