Hey Core,
I’m a mid-level experienced industrial designer with solid previous experience at very successful companies.
I recently had a well-known corporate company reach out to me for a position they have open on a growing team. I expressed that it sounded interesting and that I’d be happy to talk more about it. A week later, they’ve given me 4 short (30-60min) phone interviews with different team members and seem really excited about the prospect of working with me.
They caught me off guard today when they requested to schedule the travel for an on-site/in-person interview, but also requested that I work on a project from them and bring it to the interview. I have an established portfolio of work, successful products in production, good references, all of the phone interviews went really well, and it was expressed to me that they do not have any other candidates currently, so I’m confused as to why they want such a large project for the on-site.
Make no mistake, I’d be more than happy to work on a small aspect of a project with them to demonstrate a specific skillset if that’s what they desired, but this is a FULL front-end discovery project with a very broad scope. They would like everything from user research to narrowed-down direction and concept sketches (you know… the kind of thing that people get charged money to have done). I’d have less than a month to complete it too, which would be a fast timeline if I was working on a team, let alone by myself. But they haven’t offered any resources, contacts, or even a small budget, so I’d be using all of my own equipment and time for it.
It’d be one thing if I was seeking a job with them, but they were the ones that reached out to me. I’ve got my own job, outside work that I do, and my home/personal life. I’m not sure when they expect me to work on this for them.
When push comes to shove, I can and probably will do it. They seem like a great company, and I wouldn’t mind working for them based on the interactions and information prior to this. It just seems like this an inappropriate step forward and I’m not sure how to respond.
Sage advice or previous experience?