- HR Brain Pickings
- Posts
- put your money where your hire is 💸
put your money where your hire is 💸
because for automattic, real work tells you everything you need to know
In partnership with
Howdy HR friends!👋
Today is the last in our 3-part series where we get hiring inspiration from brands we all know and love (who do things a bit differently).
From taking a $4k cheque to leave during onboarding at Zappos to reading resumes bottom-up at Patagonia.
Today we’re looking at Automattic who produce and maintain WordPress. How do they also produce and maintain a super talented and engaged team?
Let’s jump in shall we?
🚦Coming up
In today’s edition
💡 Rethinking Hiring: Pay Candidates to Show Their Real Skills (Automattic's Innovative Approach)
🛋️ The Break Room: Would you consider implementing paid trial work in your hiring process?
📚 Human Readsources: AI-driven terminations, Microsoft's controversial layoffs amid AI push, and growing layoff anxieties among Gen Z workers.
💭Opening thoughts
Paying for candidate’s time could save in the long run
Tuxedos during the first interview are optional.
What if you could reduce hiring mistakes by 90% by watching candidates do actual work instead of just interviewing them?
Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, does exactly this by paying candidates $25/hour to complete real projects during their evaluation process.
This changes their hiring process from a guessing game based on resumes into a data-driven decision process that reveals how candidates truly perform, collaborate, and align with company culture before any permanent commitment is made.
Discover how Automattic's hiring methodology has not only reduced turnover and increased team performance but also created a blueprint you can adapt to find perfect-fit candidates in your organization—regardless of industry or company size.
For easy reading
Today’s edition is presented by
Your career will thank you.
Over 4 million professionals start their day with Morning Brew—because business news doesn’t have to be boring.
Each daily email breaks down the biggest stories in business, tech, and finance with clarity, wit, and relevance—so you're not just informed, you're actually interested.
Whether you’re leading meetings or just trying to keep up, Morning Brew helps you talk the talk without digging through social media or jargon-packed articles. And odds are, it’s already sitting in your coworker’s inbox—so you’ll have plenty to chat about.
It’s 100% free and takes less than 15 seconds to sign up, so try it today and see how Morning Brew is transforming business media for the better.
🧠Let’s unpick
💡 Rethinking Hiring: Pay Candidates to Show Their Real Skills
In a world of inflated resumes and rehearsed interview answers, Automattic has pioneered something revolutionary: they pay candidates $25/hour to do actual work during their hiring process.
This approach replaces the traditional "guess if they'll be good" method with a "see it with your own eyes" strategy.
Imagine all those bad hires we could have skipped who couldn’t even find Excel on their laptops?!
The benefits are compelling: Automattic's trial work phase creates mutual transparency.
It allows both sides to evaluate fit before committing. Not just the hiring manager.
According to their hiring documentation, the process typically takes 2.5+ months from application to offer, which seems lengthy but dramatically reduces costly mis-hires.
The company's distributed team spans 90+ countries, proving this method scales globally.
Consider implementing elements of this approach in your organization.
Start small by designing paid mini-projects for final candidates that simulate actual work responsibilities.
Document clear evaluation criteria and compensate candidates fairly for their time.
While you might not replicate Automattic's entire process, even incorporating a few real work samples can dramatically improve your hiring accuracy and super importantly: the candidate experience too!
You can read more at...
👀Too long didn’t read
TLDR
Pay candidates to do real work instead of relying on interviews, and you'll see their actual abilities while they experience your true culture.
Today’s edition is also presented by
Learn AI in 5 minutes a day
What’s the secret to staying ahead of the curve in the world of AI? Information. Luckily, you can join 1,000,000+ early adopters reading The Rundown AI — the free newsletter that makes you smarter on AI with just a 5-minute read per day.
🎬Lights, camera, action!
Takeaway and try
💰 Replace one of your standard interview rounds with a 3-hour paid project that simulates actual job responsibilities, allowing candidates to demonstrate their skills rather than just talk about them.
⏱️ Start small by offering final-stage candidates $25/hour for mini-projects relevant to the role; the investment is minimal compared to the cost of a bad hire.
🔄 Create a feedback loop where both your team and the candidate can evaluate fit based on real work interactions, not just interview performance.
📋 Develop clear evaluation criteria for paid work trials that focus on the specific skills and qualities needed for success in the role.
🌐 Consider how paid work assessments might actually expand your talent pool by appealing to skilled candidates who don't interview well or have unconventional backgrounds.
☕The break room
What’s your take?
This is what paid trials/tasks help us to avoid!
Would you consider implementing paid trial work in your hiring process? |
📚Additional reading
Human Readsources
🤖 AI Now Making Firing Decisions for Managers (The HR Digest) - AI increasingly making firing decisions without proper human oversight.
🤖 Microsoft Exec Tells Laid-Off Staff: Use AI for Comfort (HR Grapevine) - Microsoft exec suggests laid-off employees use AI for emotional support.
📉 Gen Z Fears Layoffs Amid Tech Cuts and AI (HR Grapevine) - Gen Z workers increasingly fear layoffs amid economic uncertainty.
That’s it for today.
Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition sparked some new ideas for your workplace! 🧠
We know you’re super busy and really appreciate you saving some room for us in your inbox 😀
On a scale of 1 to HR, how much do you like this edition? |
Reply