If an employer shows some interest in you, they may request spec work from you before making a decision.

Spec work (short for speculative) is any job where your potential employer may give you an assignment to see examples or a finished product and they may (or may not) pay you a fee or offer you the job. It's a sticky situation: The employer may not want to invest money or offer a job until they see what you can do. Job seekers may feel their portfolios and experience should be enough to demonstrate their skills. And who can afford to work for free, especially if you are jobless?

Once spec work comes into play, it may feel like dealing with the devil. You want the job, but you don't want to feel like you're being taken advantage of.

Would I do it? That depends.

I wouldn't work on a current assignment for free. If you are asked to do the current work of the agency, they should offer their freelance rate, if not your fee. If money never comes up, that's a red flag in my opinion. If they want to see how you think, offer to work from an old creative brief. Unfortunately, you may never know if it is an older assignment, but in fairness, that should be the only job they should ask you to do for free.

Should you do it? Only you can answer that question.

I've seen people jump through the spec work hoops and nothing happened. On the upside, I've seen it turn into freelance work and actual offers for some in the last few weeks. The trades say agencies are slowly hiring people back, but I think they are asking people to put in more of an effort than submitting a resume and interviews.

I would never tell you if spec work is right or wrong for you. Everyone's circumstances are different. Doing the work for free in hopes of getting paid or a job, may feel like bargaining with the devil, but if you're unemployed, many of us would take the job from hell just to be working again.

And no one should fault you for that.


"Devil" courtesy of stock.xchng .