Just a quick one but I'm interested in the opinions of everyone here as to how to approach this...
I'm sadly another redundancy due to Covid-19 and I specialise in marketing which is incredibly hard it seems. Anyway, as you can imagine I've been firing out CVs and covering letters with a somewhat okay acknowledgment rate.
Speaking to one company and they said they had to wade through over 60 decent candidates which means it's incredibly competitive. The likelihood that these people have greater experience is pretty strong which puts me at a huge disadvantage.
For those that come back and on more than one occasion the company says "it's great to hear from you etc, please answer these questions for us" and these questions are usually "how can we be better" or "write us a marketing plan", certainly along those lines.
The cynic in me would suggest they're after free consultancy and ideas without having to commit. Who wouldn't want free advice? No one, that's who.
Most recently I've been sent three questions by one company to answer, the next stage is a phone call and the third stage is an interview. Surely it should be the other way around...
Just FYI, I did recently put around 12 hours of effort and research into a report for hiring company. I asked for feedback and they promptly came back with "your effort was good but we've gone with someone else" which really irked me - are people this scummy?
So what should I do OcUK?
I think the options are:
A. Thanks but no thanks
B. I'd be more than happy to answer those questions in person, does 11am on Tuesday work for you?
C. Go back with an hourly charge
D. Do it anyway - no harm, no foul
E. Something else...
Either way I think the practice is pretty shocking. In all interviews and stuff I've had up until this joke of a year they've always been presentation based, nothing as emphatic as write us a marketing plan but maybe that comes with seniority and experience?
I want to believe they're interested in me and my skills etc but in reality they're probably collating all of their responses from desperate candidates to make into an actionable plan - that being said, if I'm wrong then I'm shooting myself in the foot.
TL;DR - companies keep asking for marketing advice as part of a vetting/hiring procedure, should one entertain this or tell them no thanks...?
I'm sadly another redundancy due to Covid-19 and I specialise in marketing which is incredibly hard it seems. Anyway, as you can imagine I've been firing out CVs and covering letters with a somewhat okay acknowledgment rate.
Speaking to one company and they said they had to wade through over 60 decent candidates which means it's incredibly competitive. The likelihood that these people have greater experience is pretty strong which puts me at a huge disadvantage.
For those that come back and on more than one occasion the company says "it's great to hear from you etc, please answer these questions for us" and these questions are usually "how can we be better" or "write us a marketing plan", certainly along those lines.
The cynic in me would suggest they're after free consultancy and ideas without having to commit. Who wouldn't want free advice? No one, that's who.
Most recently I've been sent three questions by one company to answer, the next stage is a phone call and the third stage is an interview. Surely it should be the other way around...
Just FYI, I did recently put around 12 hours of effort and research into a report for hiring company. I asked for feedback and they promptly came back with "your effort was good but we've gone with someone else" which really irked me - are people this scummy?
So what should I do OcUK?
I think the options are:
A. Thanks but no thanks
B. I'd be more than happy to answer those questions in person, does 11am on Tuesday work for you?
C. Go back with an hourly charge
D. Do it anyway - no harm, no foul
E. Something else...
Either way I think the practice is pretty shocking. In all interviews and stuff I've had up until this joke of a year they've always been presentation based, nothing as emphatic as write us a marketing plan but maybe that comes with seniority and experience?
I want to believe they're interested in me and my skills etc but in reality they're probably collating all of their responses from desperate candidates to make into an actionable plan - that being said, if I'm wrong then I'm shooting myself in the foot.
TL;DR - companies keep asking for marketing advice as part of a vetting/hiring procedure, should one entertain this or tell them no thanks...?
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