Not sure about this job I have an interview for...

Got an email and I'm one of the top 5 candidates for this job. It's for this little online magazine - think buzzfeed but they don't talk politics. I applied for this job because the advert for it said it was work from home and low pressure and ideal for students. It didn't mention pay or hours.
They've emailed saying I'm in the final 5 candidates. They also said they need 2 months commitment minimum, the want at least 5 x 900 word articles per week, and it's an unpaid position. No mention of it potentially leading to an actual paying job.
I'm a good candidate. I know and have met 2 of the other top 5 and neither of them have experience in writing articles whereas I wrote for the school paper in both high school and college and currently write for the university online paper. I am also familiar with the website and the brand and lots of my previous work that's included in my portfolio aligns with their work.
But it takes me like 3 hours minimum to write 900 words. And that's with no editing and barely any research.
I could always use more experience and maybe if I did it really well then I could be looking at a paid position once the 2 months are up but IDK if it's going to be more trouble than it's worth...

Reply 1

siamsam

16

If you're happy to work 15 hrs a week for nothing with no promise of paid employment at the end of it go for it. Personally I would say thanks, but no thanks.

Reply 2

xoxAngel_Kxox

21

I work as a freelance writer, and you'll often find that companies do this as a way to get free content, and they will have no intention whatsoever of offering you paid work.

I now don't accept any work at all that requires a "free trial". I don't believe it's fair, as there's no other job where you'd have to do an unpaid trial before getting the job or not. You might be asked to do a trial period, but it would always be paid.

Also, why does it take you 3 hours to write 900 words if that doesn't even include editing or research? I can write that amount in half an hour, and that includes editing. But having said that I've always been like that, that's one of the reasons I can earn so much as a freelance writer ha ha because I get paid 2p a word and my main client ends up paying me £60 an hour on that rate. If you want to talk about getting proper writing work, PM me if you might be interested in working on a freelance basis.

Reply 3

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by xoxAngel_Kxox

I work as a freelance writer, and you'll often find that companies do this as a way to get free content, and they will have no intention whatsoever of offering you paid work.

I now don't accept any work at all that requires a "free trial". I don't believe it's fair, as there's no other job where you'd have to do an unpaid trial before getting the job or not. You might be asked to do a trial period, but it would always be paid.

Also, why does it take you 3 hours to write 900 words if that doesn't even include editing or research? I can write that amount in half an hour, and that includes editing. But having said that I've always been like that, that's one of the reasons I can earn so much as a freelance writer ha ha because I get paid 2p a word and my main client ends up paying me £60 an hour on that rate. If you want to talk about getting proper writing work, PM me if you might be interested in working on a freelance basis.

That was an estimate but usually the reason it takes me that long is that I have ADHD and english isn't my first language so I struggle to write articles in it and the ADHD can distract me even on my best days. If I was doing it in Irish (my first language) it's more like an hour. The email says nothing about a paid position - just the 2 month internship - but the email says about 1/4 of their writers were hired this way. Having said that, I don't know how many internships they have actually done or how the number of internships compares to the number of writers hired. 1/4 of their staff could be 10 people hired from 100 internships for all I know...

Original post by siamsam

If you're happy to work 15 hrs a week for nothing with no promise of paid employment at the end of it go for it. Personally I would say thanks, but no thanks.

I'm not even sure if I have time for it. I earn money now tutoring and it doesn't take up lots of my time but it takes up enough that I don't really have a large amount of time where I can just sit and write with no interruptions.

Reply 4

PhoenixFortune

21

Original post by Anonymous

That was an estimate but usually the reason it takes me that long is that I have ADHD and english isn't my first language so I struggle to write articles in it and the ADHD can distract me even on my best days. If I was doing it in Irish (my first language) it's more like an hour. The email says nothing about a paid position - just the 2 month internship - but the email says about 1/4 of their writers were hired this way. Having said that, I don't know how many internships they have actually done or how the number of internships compares to the number of writers hired. 1/4 of their staff could be 10 people hired from 100 internships for all I know...

I'm not even sure if I have time for it. I earn money now tutoring and it doesn't take up lots of my time but it takes up enough that I don't really have a large amount of time where I can just sit and write with no interruptions.

That 1/4 of writers stuff sounds like a 'statistic' designed to entice people to work for them. In a few months time, if you even hint at the idea that they could give you a paid job, they'd ask you where you got that idea from. They're being ambiguous enough to not see themselves as at fault if you feel you were misled.

How do you know you'd have time to dedicate to writing articles from this company if you don't have time to work freelance?

Reply 5

PhoenixFortune

21

Original post by Anonymous

That was an estimate but usually the reason it takes me that long is that I have ADHD and english isn't my first language so I struggle to write articles in it and the ADHD can distract me even on my best days. If I was doing it in Irish (my first language) it's more like an hour. The email says nothing about a paid position - just the 2 month internship - but the email says about 1/4 of their writers were hired this way. Having said that, I don't know how many internships they have actually done or how the number of internships compares to the number of writers hired. 1/4 of their staff could be 10 people hired from 100 internships for all I know...

I'm not even sure if I have time for it. I earn money now tutoring and it doesn't take up lots of my time but it takes up enough that I don't really have a large amount of time where I can just sit and write with no interruptions.

That 1/4 of writers stuff sounds like a 'statistic' designed to entice people to work for them. In a few months time, if you even hint at the idea that they could give you a paid job, they'd ask you where you got that idea from. They're being ambiguous enough to not see themselves as at fault if you feel you were misled.

If you don't have time to work freelance, how do you know you'd have time to dedicate to writing articles from this company?

Reply 6

hau28

19

Did you end up taking the job?

Not sure about this job I have an interview for...

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you