I’ve responded here before on this. I won’t do any any more. If they can’t tell from your portfolio, or pay you for a day, then skip it. Honestly, until we put our collective feet down, nothing changes. Free projects are also probably illegal under current labor law. In nyc unpaid Internships are.
If I’m going for a job and have nothing in my book prior to the interview that’s suitable, then I’ll do a capsule group of flats prior. If that’s not good enough, then I’m not the right fit, and we can both move on.
It’s the scarcity of the job listings right now that’s making people desperate. Mostly why I’ve been doing these projects that will not be paid, in hopes that they are being honest about really having a job up for grabs. But they are so dirty. Nobody is honest. This is why my trust doesn’t exist anymore.
Bills need to be paid, and my money has already ran out. Be real here. So we put our trust in these “job opportunities” and desperately need the money to pay bills.
One thing to consider here: the hiring managers are lofty in cash, sipping their chicken soup with a diet coke, and don’t really care. They’re living comfortably right now.
So yeah, I would love to be able to dismiss yet another company for asking me to do another unpaid project. But what choices do we actually have when the rent is due and my landlord is knocking on my door at 5:30am on a Sunday asking me to give him his money. Nobody understands the situations on the ground are real. We don’t get paid more than $30k in the fashion industry. If we do, that’s a miracle.
Right now a lot of companies are taking advantage of people willing to do free projects, and I agree, it’s a dirty practice.
It used to be that if you were asked to do a project, you would come back in the next week and present your (printed out) project- that way you could walk the hiring managers through your project, and answer their questions.
Sending out a free project into cyber-space is scary, and it makes it that much harder for a company to take your ideas and then ghost you.
I won’t do free projects unless I get a chance to present them. In person (wearing masks) if possible. Or present it on zoom. Yeah, they could take a screenshot, and steal your ideas. But it also gives you a chance to explain what you were thinking, and answer any questions. There’s no need for a company to actually have your project in hand. And any company that tells your they don’t have time to sit through a 10 minute zoom call with a potential employee (an employee that should be, at that point, pre-screened and gone through interviews, and thus one of the selected few) is up to no good.
As I was just asked, an hour ago, if I was open to doing a project, for product I don’t want to design for, forever and ever, but understanding I should be humble and go for whatever I can, but I think I will decline. Because of the failures of virtual interviewing, I have had to send projects and write out how I came up with my inspiration. It sucked but, had to do it. Of course things can be screen shot, but I have sent them thru Google Slides, and after they reviewed it, I made the file private again, so the link doesn’t work. But ultimately, doing a project is how one gets a job, but it is painful, each and every time. I think projects should show you can do some semblance of the job but it seems I am encountering people who want you to be totally in tune with what they are doing and so on. Its weird, and further makes me not want to do projects. So I am now left thinking, I will do them for companies I deem worth it, and say no to ones I do not.
Update, I sent a 2 sentence decline to do the project and I got such a mean email back, and now i’m grateful to not have done it. This was yesterday. An hour ago, I had an interview and, guess what, given a project. I met with the owner and he offered me 25k less than my previous salary, told me I have to be the graphic designer, apparel designer, and tech designer for the brand. He also informed me of hard it is out there and that he had someone who sketched great and was willing to do the job for 45k. Im just glad I had a mask on so he couldn’t see my face. I stayed polite and will send a very nice decline on opportunity tomorrow.
I am so sorry you had that experience but props to you for staying strong. A company that actually sees how talented you are will pay you what you’re worth. It really sucks that these company owners think they can get away with trying to make someone do 5 jobs and pay so little. Their product will suffer for it.
Just Had an interview today. Everything was going good until I was asked to do a “small project” Unpaid of course! My response, “As a parent it would be irresponsible for me to spend time on an unpaid project that does not guarantee employment”…
They said sorry but that is the hiring process. My response, "If your interested, I am open to freelance work…
Ive been in the industry for almost 20 years. See my portfolio. I can do the work.
The more designers say “No” the better. We need to set a precedent. We need to give them no other option because this industry loves to treat designers like they are a dime a dozen. Telling someone in an interview that they could easily be replaced with someone that is willing to take less money and is willing to do free projects is an insult. We cannot continue to endure this blatant disrespect for our talents. KEEP SAYING NO TO FREE PROJECTS!
At this point, I’m fairly certain that my photo is up somewhere informing companies to call me for free work and not an offer. rinse - repeat. this morning I turned in a 30 page project, including but not limited to color, trend, custom profile, cads, prints, technical details (tech pack basically), etc. the recruiter warned me there would be revisions. once I got them, they wanted me to remove the brand name, and remove my watermark from the cads and technical details. The the recruiter sent me a photo of a garment of her own and then the account sent some random links for inspiration. i’m confused. this would happen if I worked there. What is happening. I made the changes, and ignored the Inspo. I am very uncomfortable and I am quite sure they are stealing the work and sending it over seas, since I made it easy for them. I have to present it tomorrow and I need to have a word with the recruiter. I don’t know even know where to begin with why these projects have to stop. They are not a representation of what you can do, they are free work for companies.
Why are you doing all this??? Ths fact that you are submitting revisions and removing watermarks is WILD. STOP NOW.
Sorry to yell… but seriously. They are treating you like an employee. I have never heard of a company doing this before in an interview process. That is blatant exploitation. Please save yourself and do not let the need for a job make you think this type of thing is acceptable.
Cancel the interview. Keep looking for a company that will respect you.
Projects- when they are assigned- should be small, and basically only be given to evaluate someone’s “taste” level and how they approach a project. I think no more then 3-4 “pages”- usually a mood board, a small “capsule collection” (ie: 4-6 styles max) and maybe some other additional things, such as additional colorways, or maybe take 1 style and create a truncated techpack.
When I was assigning projects as a design director, I worked at a company that had multiple divisions (missy, juniors, kids, etc) and seeing someone’s project- when I assigned them- helped me determine what their overall aesthetic was, and thus what division they would be a fit in.
In no way, shape or form should you be handing in 30 pages of work; doing updates/changes; or removing your watermark without getting paid a freelance rate. OF COURSE they stealing your work! And you are letting them! Please don’t do this again, and please know that your ideas and time and effort are worth much more than this!!!
I understand that times are tough right now and it might seem like doing this- however begrudgingly- will help you get a job. But unfortunately, there will always be these little cockroach companies that will try to steal your work, and make you feel bad- like you just turned down the most amaaaaaazing opportunity. They are only trying to dangle a carrot in front of you, and most likely don’t even have a job to offer- or not a good one, anyway.
If you don’t get this job- please list their name here and call them out! And call out the recruiter who encouraged this behavior too! (you’re anonymous… but they shouldn’t be!)
And, in the case of next time:
Say you’re very happy to do a project- after they review your portfolio and interview you- if they can pay you your day rate to do so. You can do it remote, or go in, use their computer and wear a mask- but that way you can get an idea of how they operate and they, in turn, can see someone who will happily execute a task in order for pay (ie: what having a JOB is).
Or
Say you’re happy to do a small project- the key word here is SMALL- if you feel like the interview(s) went great, that they have reviewed your portfolio, and maybe they just want to assign one small thing to see how you handle it. BUT- and this is the key- you want to present it to them. That way they can better understand your process AND you can answer any questions.
That means you A) Go in with a mask on and present your project to them or B) You present via zoom, facetime, google hangouts, whatever.
They don’t get to KEEP the project (since they didn’t pay for it). And if they have revisions… well, you can sweetly explain you’d be happy to do them as a freelance project (paid) or as an employee (paid)!
Jerks don’t like it when you call them on their jerkiness. But- unless you stand up for yourself, no one else will. Just be nice, be respectful, and hold strong.
Send them an invoice. Also, this recruiter is dishonest. Never work for free. I send examples of work I have done. If they want more, they can pay me. Why would a company hire a designer who works for free?
I agree with everyone here! OMG, please re-read the advice given here. This recruiter sounds shady, and the company is most likely stealing everything you have worked on. 30 pages?!? Removing your watermark? So many red flags.
Honestly the work is out there. As much as they are interviewing you, YOU need to be interviewing them when you are applying for a job. Already this company sounds like a nightmare to work for, as well as totally unethical.
You do need to bill the recruiter to pass on the invoice as you need to be paid for all of this work.
That is why I have my own website. I put a variety of examples of projects I have worked on (of course once it has been out in the public for a while), and after 25 years years, I will not do any project examples unless I am paid. I have plenty of examples on my website of my style, what I can do, etc. If a company can’t get a sense of what I can do, oh well, that is their problem.
So please, no more free work. Again, I am seeing more and more job ads and I have had to turn down projects over the past two weeks because I have plenty right now, and not enough hours to take on any more at this time.
Show your value to these companies, and believe in your own value. Don’t give it all away for free.
Whoever you interviewed with clearly had no intentions on hiring anyone. They interviewed ppl and whoever didn’t have a backbone to say no to their outlandish requests would be who they took advantage of. And that was you… congratulations you’ve just did a whole season of work for them. At some point individuals have to take responsibility for allowing people to screw them over. Furthermore if they had the balls to ask all of this for an interview project what the heck do you think working for them would be like???
If a company does that, RUN. YOU should MEET people there before investing your time and money creating a labor intensive FREE design project for anyone. Michael Stars does that, too. It’s a joke because it says NOTHING about whether you will even LIKE the people you work for or the environment you will be spending the majority of your LIFE in while employed. You need to know if THEY are a fit, too.
I hope my experience can help here. Years ago when I 1st began working in the biz, as a Pattern Maker, as a woman competing with the mostly Italian male Pattern Makers, I offered to prove my abilities by offering to work for maximum of 3 hours, no charge. I got hired everytime. I also checked with the NY State Dept. Of Labor re working for no pay. State allows up to 3 hours. Beyond th3 hour time, by law, you must be paid. Period. Unless you want to “give it away”.