Welcome to the Sunday Job Interview
With their pick of candidates, some firms areasking for Sunday interviews or extending ‘work trials.’ What’s next?
The alarm went off at 6 AM. He showered, got dressed, grabbed some coffee, and headed out the door. On the way to the office, he practiced his presentation, rehearsing answers to potential questions. It was like any other day of work—except it was all in preparation for a job interview on a Sunday morning.
As the labor market tightens and AI increases demand for high performers, more and more firms are pushing the envelope in terms of what they expect from candidates. And while Sunday job interviews—which one start-up has adopted—may not bother candidates who aren’t available during the week, others complain that “work trials” once reserved for upper management are becoming more commonplace, not to mention more onerous. Instead of a simple coding project or strategy memo, firms are now asking candidates to give detailed presentations to a panel of executives, take time off from their actual jobs to work for several days, or complete tasks on weekends.
Of course, firms have some legitimate reasons to make prospective hires endure Sunday interviews and work trials. For one, recruiters and hiring managers are besieged by résumés both real and imaginary: High-demand roles receive an average of 300 résumés per posting, some of them from chatbots posing as humans. AI's ability to customize résumés to an opening’s exact specifications makes the application process easier for candidates, but more difficult for potential employers, who are trying to discern a candidate’s actual ability and skills. Work trials can help gauge cultural fit and other intangible skills, like collaboration and decision-making, in more depth than an interview can.
There are benefits for candidates, too, says Scott Sette, a senior client partner in the Global Healthcare Services practice at Korn Ferry. He says work trials can give candidates a better idea of what the role entails, along with insight into the current state of the organization. For his part, Moses Zonana, a senior client partner in the Technology practice at Korn Ferry, has observed more candidates asking to complete work trials over the weekend, whether to avoid conflicts with day jobs or allow them more time to prepare.
But Dan Pulver, a senior client partner in the Global Infrastructure Real Estate and Sustainability practices at Korn Ferry, says employed candidates may not have as much time for a work trial as those who are between jobs, and are taking on more risk. “Is that an even playing field?” he asks rhetorically.
Moreover, Pulver says firms are making more demands on job candidates than ever—because they can. “The pendulum is all the way back to the employer,” he says. To be sure, candidates are grateful simply to be considered, given that it’s now taking an average of six months to find a job, and only about 2% of applicants even get to the interview stage. One CEO who makes a point of testing executive candidates with a Sunday interview says he rarely gets pushback and has even been thanked by candidates who were able to avoid taking a vacation day.
That said, Tamara Rodman, a senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s Culture, Change and Communications practice, wonders about the practice of conducting Sunday interviews. “If it’s expected of you, then it’s giving the wrong message,” she says. The work trials may raise a red flag too. If their objective is to find candidates who fit the purpose, environment, and culture of the firm, says David Napeloni, vice president of client services in Korn Ferry’s Life Sciences practice, then onerous ones could end up weeding out those very people. “You have to be careful not to create an environment where the trials are so demanding that only the most desperate are willing to do them,” says Napeloni.
Experts say smart firms avoid making unreasonable demands of candidates. Building resentment prior to the first day on the job is counterproductive. In many cases, what the company asks for may depend on the sector. Dan Stech, a senior client partner in the Healthcare Consulting practice, says weekend work has long been the norm in his industry, so he doubts many peers would flinch at the prospect of a Sunday interview. “I’ve been working Sundays for as long as I can remember,” he says.
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