Offer compensation to people who participate in a job interview, even if they are not selected for the job? Some organizations do it, but this practice remains very rare.
“At the end of each interview, we simply ask the candidate for their email address to make an Interac transfer. It’s not more complicated than that,” says Pier Liné, general director of Santropol Roulant.
A year ago, this Montreal community organization with around twenty employees introduced a new recruitment practice. Each candidate who undergoes a job interview receives a flat fee of $75, regardless of whether the person is hired or not.
The objective, explains Mr. Liné, is to compensate the person who takes personal time to prepare for the interview and who sometimes has to take time off and pay for transportation to travel to the interview.
“The amounts are extremely low. If you have twenty interviews per year, it’s barely $1,500 in total,” he illustrates.
Is there sometimes abuse from candidates who appear for the interview simply to get money? “We still have a process prior to the interview. We have candidates fill out a questionnaire, we study their curriculum vitae, and we first call them by phone. In short, we check their commitment and their interest,” explains Mr. Liné.
The idea of implementing this practice was inspired by the Toronto organization Food Share and its director at the time, Paul Taylor. He now runs a consulting firm for community organizations, Evenings and Weekends, which also pays his hiring candidates.
“We offer $100 for an interview. It’s an investment. I encourage employers to consider that there is incredible value in having someone who starts their job feeling valued by their employer,” says Mr. Taylor, who leads a team of nine employees.
A rather rare practice
Noémie Ferland-Dorval, spokesperson for the Order of Certified Human Resources Advisors of Quebec (CRHA), notes that this recruitment practice is rare. “It’s not a concept you hear a lot about,” she observes.
Depending on the job category, there are exceptions. “In certain cases, there may be actual work performed. And yes, there is remuneration. For example, in the construction field, there are sometimes employers who will test candidates for one or two days,” explains M.me Ferland-Dorval.
In yet other cases, for very specialized profiles, particularly those brought in from abroad, certain employers can roll out the red carpet: reimbursement of travel expenses, accommodation, and even invitation to a restaurant…
“Maybe this is an idea for employers who have difficulty recruiting? » asks the spokesperson for the CRHA order. “But in general, financial compensation as part of a hiring process is really not commonplace,” she maintains.
For the Santropol and Evenings and Weekends organizations, it is not a question of attracting labor in a difficult economic context. “It’s simply for reasons of fairness,” argues Pier Liné.
In Toronto, Paul Taylor abounds. “You have to recognize that preparing for an interview is work – unpaid work most of the time. We must not forget who has the power and resources in the equation,” he says.
Mr. Liné does not want to teach anyone a lesson, and even less “proselytize”, he says. “But if organizations want to be able to attract a diversity of candidates, we must give candidates the means to be able to apply for these positions and that means valuing their time,” according to him.