Quote:
Originally Posted by jackdiamonte
Hi , maybe I should expand on the offer to avoid confusion or upset, I am willing to offer my time for free, LIMITED, as a taster of myself and the skills I can offer, this is along the lines that morrigan has suggested,("I'm sure its not necessary to say this but just make sure you are not taken advantage of. Set out with these companies a time frame during which they are assessing you with a view to employment and establish up front what the criteria that you should meet are. That way they are aware that you have a specific reason for offering your services pro-bono and have no illusions about when that job is offered or not").
probably could have worded it better in my original posting , but this offer is to be with a view to paid employment if a future employer feels I meet the mark and hopefully surpass it. I was in a price war where a competitor had head hunted my sales manager and I am fully aware of the impact on industry and extra work I had to do to counter this move and it is not something that I would ever initiate intentionally anyway.
But this has shown that the forum is an excellent tool and all your opinions are valued. Points taken and noted. or Roger that. I hope this puts your mind to rest.
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DO NOT WORK FOR FREE, OR FOR A DAILY RATE LESS THAN ANYONE ELSE. FULL STOP.
I understand why you think this may work, but to offer to work for free, with the possibilty of a full time paid position with said company, will not work in your favour. You will be used and then thrown to one side. THEN the company will think "Great!", lets just use newbies for free and still invoice the client. After a while, as soon as the "free" newbie starts to approach said employer's timeframe agreed for a full time paid position.....opps....you're gone and another "free" newbie takes your place. Having something verbally agreed is not sufficent. Having an agreement in writting, well that is just not going to happen. If it does, it would still offer you no protection as it would certainly be written in their favour.
If you insist on approaching companies and offering a trail "unpaid" period, then I wish you complete failure and removal from the market.