Trial days unpaid?

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lea2721

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not sure if its in right area but basically i went for a interview 3 months ago for an apprentice hairdresser then 4 days ago they rang to say they would like to offer me the job and to come for a full day trial from 8am till 6pm i went they did not hardly speak to me and did not show me around etc expected to me to just come in and work i then find 2 days before they rang me they had sacked some one so ok seems weird now and even weirder is that at the end of the fmday they said we will call you if you have the job.. is this legal can they ask you to a 10 hour trial day unpaid
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They can legally. But they should have at least offered you travel money/ food etc? I don't think that's a legal requirement though.

If you didn't feel happy there then don't work there. A job interview is as much for them to impress you as for you to impress them x
 
but hmrc it says your only not entitled to nmw if its work experiance or voluntry which iymt was neither no i am not going to work there but i feel a bit conned rey xx

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sorry spelling terriable tired lol x

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Try googling 'work trial' and it can literally be anything up to a week or so. If you feel uncomfortable with it all your next option would be to go to citizens advice bureau. They can let you know the best course action x
 
oh i dont want to complain lol just wanted to know so i know for next time xx

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Did you ask them for payment?
 
As part of the interview you can be asked to do many things, an example of which is to perform in the role so that you can be assessed as to your suitability. Think of it like the TV show "The Apprentice". ;)

It does sound a little bit suspect that they sacked someone though and then rang someone they had interviewed 3 months before to come work on a trial day.

Have you called them to see if you got the job? If they say "no", I would probably ask, "Can you give me some indication of which areas I could improve in?" and see what they say.

Good luck.
 
Did you ask them for payment?

no as they said i had the job i had to come for a trial day i thought this would be part of my hours but at the end of the day they said we will call you at some point to let you know if you have the job, but whats confused me is this is for an apprentice so i dont quite get what they could see in a 1 day trial as id be learning over the next two years , and because they did not show me arpund salon they kind of just expected me to come in wash hair blowdry etc and then hearing about a the other girl getting sacked all sounded a bit odd

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As part of the interview you can be asked to do many things, an example of which is to perform in the role so that you can be assessed as to your suitability. Think of it like the TV show "The Apprentice". ;)

It does sound a little bit suspect that they sacked someone though and then rang someone they had interviewed 3 months before to come work on a trial day.

Have you called them to see if you got the job? If they say "no", I would probably ask, "Can you give me some indication of which areas I could improve in?" and see what they say.

Good luck.

no i had already had my interview 3 months before they had rang me to say i had the apprentice job and would like me to come for a trial day so i thought like an induction kind of thing but when i got there it was not like that, and yes it does i did not think but when i told my mum she said thats a bit convineant and she said she could not understand why it was a full day trial as her place took on apprentices and she said that they would get what they need from the interview and refrences as to weather they would be eager to learn etc and i just wanted to know not to complain because thats not me but just to know for future incase i get the option again , ive got a number to ring for advice so im going to see what they say tomorrow as im intrigued x

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As part of the interview you can be asked to do many things, an example of which is to perform in the role so that you can be assessed as to your suitability. Think of it like the TV show "The Apprentice". ;)

It does sound a little bit suspect that they sacked someone though and then rang someone they had interviewed 3 months before to come work on a trial day.

Have you called them to see if you got the job? If they say "no", I would probably ask, "Can you give me some indication of which areas I could improve in?" and see what they say.

Good luck.

and yes i will ring any way but i dont understand how can they say right you didnt get the job because you need to improve on washing hair for example right ok but as an apprentice is that not the whole point the employer trains you and improves you over an x amount of time :-/ x

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I think that you're right to be sceptical OP.

I had a very similar experience where the potential employer phoned me up to offer me the job but then also said I would need to do a days work trial.

As far as I'm concerned that is a contradiction because how can employer know that they want to give someone a job whilst stating that they are trialing them? trailing them for what?

As far as I'm concerned, this is just a sly way of an employer trying to get free labour by trying to call something an interview/trial/trade test when it isn't.

I'm all for doing work experience if it genuinely is work experience. Making tea, taking phone calls, observing how things are done, that kinda thing. I'm also all for doing a trade test on a member of staff as part of prooving my skills on someone who accepts that they need to see what I can do before they let me lose on paying customers.

But to get someone to work for free whilst calling it a trial/interview/trade test? No. That's an absolute cop out and as far as I'm concerned, completely flipping wrong.

Would not work for someone like this, if you can't trust them to do something as basic as recruiting then how can you trust them to pay you properly. Avoid!
 
I think that you're right to be sceptical OP.

I had a very similar experience where the potential employer phoned me up to offer me the job but then also said I would need to do a days work trial.

As far as I'm concerned that is a contradiction because how can employer know that they want to give someone a job whilst stating that they are trialing them? trailing them for what?

As far as I'm concerned, this is just a sly way of an employer trying to get free labour by trying to call something an interview/trial/trade test when it isn't.

I'm all for doing work experience if it genuinely is work experience. Making tea, taking phone calls, observing how things are done, that kinda thing. I'm also all for doing a trade test on a member of staff as part of prooving my skills on someone who accepts that they need to see what I can do before they let me lose on paying customers.

But to get someone to work for free whilst calling it a trial/interview/trade test? No. That's an absolute cop out and as far as I'm concerned, completely flipping wrong.

Would not work for someone like this, if you can't trust them to do something as basic as recruiting then how can you trust them to pay you properly. Avoid!

yea thats exactly what i thought and i completly agree with everything you say a trade test i can understand for example come in wash a head and blowdry but theres no point doing this for me as it was an apprentice job so im not fully qualified and then work experiance yes thats good to and that is what the other salon is where i can start in september but i asked so it can work alongside my college course but i think you have put it in perspective really as no trial day is going to work no matter what any way so i think in the future if i get offered this again i will just say unfortunatly i will not do a trial day unpaid but am willing to do a trade test but its soo hard because you dont want to be turning a oppertunity down i suppose this is how they get you but thankyou for your explaing your experiance and i think your 100% right x

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The salon i worked at didn't pay for trial days (saying that if the person had worked hard i used to pay them something). Your not qualified so they'll see you as an assistant. Because if this you won't need to do a trade test (they'll help with models when you've started). Our assistant trial days tended to be on busier days so people knew what to expect.
The main thing was to see how they fitted in with staff and that they were willing to work not just stand around talking.
If you have another trial just try and get to know the staff and keep yourself busy. Sweep the floors fold towels etc.
The salon might have a few short list applicants who will all be having trial days. You need to make sure its you they remember. After each trial we had I'd always ask the rest of the staff what they thought about the person on the trial.
To be honest if someone said about being paid before hand it would make me wander how serious they were about the job or if they just wanted a bit of money for weekend.
Good luck with finding a job and stick at it. Sounds like your better without this salon but don't be disheartened x
 
no as they said i had the job i had to come for a trial day i thought this would be part of my hours but at the end of the day they said we will call you at some point to let you know if you have the job, but whats confused me is this is for an apprentice so i dont quite get what they could see in a 1 day trial as id be learning over the next two years , and because they did not show me arpund salon they kind of just expected me to come in wash hair blowdry etc and then hearing about a the other girl getting sacked all sounded a bit odd

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in future just ask about the money outright, clarify before you do it if you are going to get paid, dont be afraid to chat about money its business! and why not just ring and ask for your pay
 
The salon i worked at didn't pay for trial days (saying that if the person had worked hard i used to pay them something). Your not qualified so they'll see you as an assistant. Because if this you won't need to do a trade test (they'll help with models when you've started). Our assistant trial days tended to be on busier days so people knew what to expect.
The main thing was to see how they fitted in with staff and that they were willing to work not just stand around talking.
If you have another trial just try and get to know the staff and keep yourself busy. Sweep the floors fold towels etc.
The salon might have a few short list applicants who will all be having trial days. You need to make sure its you they remember. After each trial we had I'd always ask the rest of the staff what they thought about the person on the trial.
To be honest if someone said about being paid before hand it would make me wander how serious they were about the job or if they just wanted a bit of money for weekend.
Good luck with finding a job and stick at it. Sounds like your better without this salon but don't be disheartened x

i can understand that but it sounds like you make it quite clear if they had said right what we do is trial so many people and stuff then i could understand but to say you have the job and then say after no you have to wait for a call, and yes i did sweep floors etc but because my interview was 3 months ago and they had not even take time out to re read my cv did not know my name when i came in did not show me around all just seems a bit weird so i am not holding out for a phonecall and even if tgey did ring me back im going to feel awful turning it down but i know i cant work there it will ruin me on the upside im glad they have asked for a trial because at least ive found out what they are like and alot of there staff were unhappy and it all felt unbalanced it did not feel like a team x

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in future just ask about the money outright, clarify before you do it if you are going to get paid, dont be afraid to chat about money its business! and why not just ring and ask for your pay

Hmm thats not really me i just wanted to know for future refrence but i think lile you say next time ask them outright what the purpose is for and what will happen at the end

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Hmm thats not really me i just wanted to know for future refrence but i think lile you say next time ask them outright what the purpose is for and what will happen at the end

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aw definitely do lea, may not be what you used to being like but business owners are used to talking money, i know its uncomfortable for some but you just have to be direct about money, do you think if i went to that salon and asked for haircut but didnt ask price and then at end just got up and walked out without paying they would let me? lols no way they'd be calling the police - same for you dont let yourself be taken advantage of because of your fear about discussing money!
 
aw definitely do lea, may not be what you used to being like but business owners are used to talking money, i know its uncomfortable for some but you just have to be direct about money, do you think if i went to that salon and asked for haircut but didnt ask price and then at end just got up and walked out without paying they would let me? lols no way they'd be calling the police - same for you dont let yourself be taken advantage of because of your fear about discussing money!

Ok thankyou i guess it was the last thing i thought of i was just thinking yes ive got the job etc but after my experiance and finding out some one had been sacked it all dawned on me after and seemed a bit odd so now i know just to be a little bit more careful thankyou for your advice x

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After reading this thread, do you think I could get away with "trialling" some cleaners? :eek: It seems that only people in the beauty industry get taken advantage of. It seems very unfair.

Hope you find yourself a nice apprenticeship in a lovely salon with fab clients and warm and friendly co-workers. :hug:
 

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