Unpaid “trial interviews” are creeping into parts of the job market – but are they useful?
Trial interviews are a somewhat common practice, especially among hospitality, trades, and retail professions. They allow an employer to see a candidate in action, rather than listening to them answer a series of questions.
This can be a great way to gauge candidate suitability. However, in more white-collar environments, unpaid trial work is far less common, and according to Kyndryl talent leader Radhika Achwal, unlikely to catch on.
There are several reasons for this, but a major one is the often complex, client-facing, and mission-critical work performed in these professions.
Achwal has seen a broad spectrum of trial formats in the market. She noted that a short trial period can’t meaningfully demonstrate capability in many corporate environments.
“In my experience within IT consulting and professional services, unpaid trial interviews are not generally part of standard recruitment,” said Achwal.
Internships and early‑career programs do exist as a kind of “extended assessment,” but Achwal stressed that these are formal, supervised and designed with clear learning objectives – not unpaid labour dressed up as part of the hiring process.
“Short trials cannot assess strategic thinking, stakeholder management, judgment under pressure, or the ability to deliver work embedded in complex client environments,” Achwal explained.
“In matrixed organisations spanning multiple technology and consulting areas, achieving meaningful consensus from a brief trial is difficult, and outcomes can be misleading.”
For that reason, she sees structured interviews, robust competency‑based assessments, realistic simulations and case‑based evaluations as both more predictive and more equitable.
Legal and ethical risk
Beyond questions of effectiveness, there are legal and ethical concerns – particularly in Australia, where Fair Work guidance places clear limits on unpaid work trials.
Achwal noted that mislabelling unpaid work as “voluntary” can be “legally risky”.
If they are used, they “must be brief, directly supervised, and only used to demonstrate specific core skills,” she said.
“Any trial that involves productive work without pay can create an employment relationship, with obligations for minimum wage, entitlements, and potential penalties.”
Ethics are another matter. Unpaid trials risk entrenching inequity by privileging those who can’t afford to work for free.
“Equity and fairness are critical,” Achwal said.
“Candidate experience and employer brand are also at stake. In complex, client-facing environments, exposing candidates to sensitive data or intellectual property during a trial raises compliance and confidentiality risks. In complex, client‑facing environments, there is an additional layer of risk.”
For these reasons, many employers go the route of structured paid assessments or task-based exercises. This helps mitigate any legal or ethical risk associated with unpaid trials.
Why corporates are unlikely to embrace unpaid trials
Against that backdrop, Achwal is sceptical that unpaid trial interviews will become a staple of corporate hiring.
She listed three key reasons for this:
- Operational complexity
- Legal and compliance pressures
- Talent market expectations
Despite this, Achwal believes that paid trial projects or short contract engagements may occasionally be used for lower-complexity roles.
However, the more ‘high impact’ roles don’t suit the unpaid trial interview format.
This may not always be the case. She noted that talent acquisition is rapidly evolving, especially off the back of advancements in AI and remote working.
“It’s a space to watch,” she said. “Many trends that initially seemed unlikely have become standard practice.”
For now, though, the message from large organisations is consistent: fair, compliant and evidence‑based hiring processes will trump the temptation to extract unpaid work from candidates under the guise of “trial interviews”.
“Unpaid trial interviews are unlikely to become widespread – large/publicly listed organisations will continue to favour fair, compliant, and effective assessment approaches,” Achwal added.
