Not only does this disincentivize HR from running fake vacancies or stringing multiple candidates on just to keep their options open, but it also solves the problem of unemployed people job-searching effectively working full-time for free. The fact that companies would have to pay to hire workers would mean they try to make the selection as short and effective as possible.
Edit: From the business POV:
- Businesses would have a limited budget for hiring so would limit process to 10 applicants and would have to pick those randomly. Less time spent on interviewing but also might miss the ideal candidate. Although the difference would fall sharply with larger pools.
- And 000s of people now stuck wo any appls at all (although better than writing fake, futile appls), and no money. Not enough jobs on the market would translate into not enough paying applications for them to be able to substitute unemployment benefits.
Edit: this post seems to have gained some traction. Do you think I should try writing to my MP and suggesting it? I live in the UK where fake interviews are a real problem right now
After about 10 years experience in the field, my interviews tended toward the whole day kind of thing. Different companies do it differently, but basically if you’re going to the effort of bringing a candidate to the company, might as well grill 'em for most of a workday. Some group interviews - those are pretty intimidating: a room full of people who know what they want and you guessing what it is they actually do. Mostly a series of one-on-ones, the most hostile one-on-one interviewer I ever had turned out to be the guy whose desk I was about to take over, shuffling him from a window seat back to an interior cube - he really really didn’t like me in the interview, I gently mentioned it to my boss-to-be he just blew him off “don’t worry about him, he’s always like that…”