What are trial shifts?
Trial shifts are like working interviews. They help you evaluate candidates in real work situations before making a permanent hiring commitment. These paid Instawork shifts work just like standard shifts, but they're specifically for candidates you’re considering hiring onto your staff. During a trial shift, you can see candidates demonstrate their skills, interact with your team, and handle actual work responsibilities in your environment. This hands-on evaluation helps reduce the risk of mis-hires and leads to better long-term fits, since managers can assess both technical abilities and team chemistry before making a hiring decision.
How do trial shifts work?
Request a trial shift when viewing a candidate on the Instawork dashboard. If you haven’t already filled it out, we’ll ask about your availability.
Our team reaches out to the candidate to coordinate the shift.
The candidate works a paid shift at your location. You’ll use the same check-in and check-out process as other Instawork shifts.
Important planning details
All candidates need a background check before they can work a trial shift. If the candidate hasn’t worked a shift through Instawork before, this can take additional time.
Most candidates accept their trial shifts, but we recommend scheduling at least 2-3 days in advance since the many professionals in our community plan their schedules about a week ahead.
For the best results, schedule multiple candidates’ trial shifts at once so you can consider all candidates at the same time.
How to schedule a trial shift
Submit your availability
When you create a job post, indicate your interest in trial shifts to evaluate candidates.
Once you pay for the job post, you can submit available dates and times for trial shifts over the next four weeks. You can choose from weekday and weekend time slots with minimum four-hour blocks, and you’ll let us know up to how many candidates you want to evaluate in one trial shift.
If you don’t submit your availability when creating the job post, we’ll ask you to complete this step when you request a trial shift with a specific candidate.
Request a trial shift
You can review candidates as they come in and view their details. For any candidate you want to evaluate in person, click “Trial shift” on the candidate’s profile.
Our team will then reach out to the candidate to schedule the trial shift according to your availability.
View your trial shift
Trial shifts will be indicated in your dashboard with a “trial shift” tag. If you need to cancel or modify a trial shift, reach out to your account manager.
FAQs
How quickly can I have a trial shift with a candidate?
Typically, trial shifts can be scheduled within 2-5 business days. To streamline the process, we recommend providing multiple time slots of availability for at least two weeks and requesting a trial shift 2-3 days in advance. This gives candidates time to adjust their schedules, as the most reliable professionals often plan their work week in advance.
If a candidate needs a background check, the process may take up to 7 business days. While same-day or next-day requests are possible, they have lower acceptance rates. For the best results and access to top candidates, we recommend planning your trial shifts 3-5 days in advance.
How long can a trial shift be?
You can schedule trial shifts for as long as you need to assess a worker’s ability and culture fit, but they do need to be at least four hours.
How much does a trial shift cost?
You'll pay a markup on hourly workers rates for trial shifts separate from your Instawork Hiring fee. Learn more about Instawork business pricing.
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