Unpaid Trial Shifts 3AW 693AM Radio Melbourne with Tony Moclair

By Sue Ellson

Topic: Unpaid Trial Shifts

Date: 28 January 2026

Media Outlet: 3AW 693AM Melbourne https://www.3aw.com.au

Broadcaster / Interviewer: Tony Moclair

Producer: Bianca Johnston

Time Stamp: 00:00:34 – 00:08:43

Duration Total: 00:08:12

Time of show: 12:12pm

Audio Recording:

Video Recording:

Transcript

Today, but first courtesy of an article in The Age and I want to know this because it’s a common trap for young players and we have all been there, I would argue. Have you done a trial shift at a workplace for which you have not been paid 133693?

This is the subject of an article, as I said, in the Age, where the author of the article worries that her 17 year old daughter will be exploited. I guess is the most extreme way of putting it. By undertaking a 3 to 4 hour unpaid work trial.

Have you done one?

Maybe you run a small business where it’s common practice?

If it is, let us know.

133693 and I want to know if you have done one. I certainly did one in my early 20s when I was looking for a sandwich hand job and it was common. You would go at the busiest time of day and you would work, get under people’s feet, get in their way, delay people.

By asking where the sliced beetroot was kept, for example, or the alfalfa. It was big in the 90s.

And so I’m not sure what the upside was for the employer, but it’s definitely a feature of the job landscape.

Have you done it or have you asked people to do it?

133693 Joining me on the line now to talk about where this sits legally is Sue Ellson Career Expert.

Good afternoon, Sue.

Hi, Tony.

Now as I said, it’s look it’s very common in some industries. I would say catering it is just the the normal thing to do. In answer to the journalist who wrote the question about a 17 year old, is it legal?

Well if it’s being used to assess their skills then technically that there is the option to do that. But obviously if you’re going in rush hour at a sandwich bar, you’re going straight into the deep end.

Yeah.

So I would suggest that the assessment would be done when there wasn’t a huge queue out the door and and you know, the beetroot and the alfalfa were available to you. So yeah, it it’s, it’s only to be used for assessing skills and if you really want to get a job, I would suggest if you’re in that young age category,

Yeah
Then it’s really about making sure that you’ve got a network and one of the most under-looked places to go is sporting clubs and groups because you know you’ll meet lots of people there and you can let them know that you’re interested and you’re much more likely to get a sort of a reputable referral through that process than you would just by rocking up and and doing a trial shift.

In in my example, it’s sandwich hand, you’ve gotta keep in mind Sue who’s the early 90s and alfalfa was it was on every sandwich. It really was the crest of the alfalfa wave. So you had to get it right when making a sandwich. Was the sandwich shop owner, what what he asked me to do, which was to work for three hours, was that legal or not?

Well, not to my belief.

Okay.

You know, as I said, there’s only to be there for assessing your skills. And he clearly wasn’t assessing them. Well, he may have been assessing your alfalfa skills, but yeah, I would suggest that most trials will involve the specific task, so we would like you to make three sandwiches, one with beetroot, one with alfalfa, one with cheese and ham, whatever and they have to be to this particular standard, go for it. And and you know that that would be an assessment.

Hmm OK. Am I allowed to eat one of those sandwiches in that example in lieu of payment? I think that would only be fair, don’t you?

Ohh. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? Particularly if you like the ham and cheese.

Yeah, exactly. So the the woman who wrote the article, Kirstin Ferguson, what should she then advise her daughter? I know a lot of us are in this position. If you’ve got kids that age, I do, who are entering the job market.

And this is the reality, as you know very well, Sue that you enter the job market as a 17 year old with very little to offer the economy because you’re just not skilled.

So you’re kind of at the mercy, aren’t you?

And you have no, you have no bargaining power.

So do you just accept that this is how it is?

Well, it’s a bit of a catch 22. You can’t get the experience unless you get the experience and and and it is tricky and I remember when my children were at that stage, they went to a local refreshment place and they were told it would be all cash and you’re not allowed, you know, we’re not gonna pay you super or, you know, anything else like that.

Ohh yes.

And I said, look, you absolutely must not take that either because if something happened to you in the workplace, you know, if you got cut by a knife or something accidentally, then there’d be no work cover and there’s all these other issues.

So I think that as parents, it’s our responsibility to keep informed as to what our children are doing and finding out, you know, what are the terms and conditions of this place?

You know, how did you find out about the job? Did you just apply to an ad in the shop window? Whatever. But also, they really need to think about being very strategic.

And I’ll never forget one person I know had a friend who worked at the MCG just across the road from the AO and their grandmother worked there. And because the grandmother worked there they said, look, you know, can I get a job at the MCG? And because there’s a lot of those referrals done within an organisation, they got a job at the MCG.

Yeah.

Which I mean, a lot of people would would kill for one of those jobs.

Yeah, true.

So think about who you know, and then reaching out to them and saying, look, I’m 17, I don’t have any experience, I’m willing to work, I’ve got 24 hours a week that I can do around my other studies and other activities, is there something I can do for you to get some experience?

And you can do work experience, you know, provided you’re you’re covered legally, obviously. But yeah, try and get some skills so that you could rock up on day one. People don’t expect you to be perfect on day one, but they do expect you to turn up on time to, to turn up when you say you’re gonna turn up to be wearing clothing that’s suitable for the role, you know, etcetera, etcetera.

133693 Have you done a tryout for a job that involved you working for hours and it was called a work trial have you done that?

133693 I’m talking to Sue Ellson, Career Expert and Author. Sue you I would no doubt assume be sympathetic to small business which does it really tough that you can understand the temptation to say well yeah I’m going to get you to try out for three hours at a busy time just to see the cut of your jib.

Mmm.

You are the beneficiary of that labour. There’s no guarantee you’re gonna give that person job, but you can understand the temptation, surely.

Ohh, definitely. And, you know, small business is doing it really tough.

And a lot of people have found that that’s the only way that they can really assess someone because, you know, in a normal trial situation, they might be perfectly good at putting the alfalfa on , but then when it’s in a rush they get flustered and or they realise that the alfalfa was from yesterday and not today and got the slightly pungent odour.

So so yeah, I look, I understand it and I can appreciate that, but I also think that as an employer you have a duty of care to every employee or every person who comes on to your premises.

Yeah

And you should treat them respectfully and if you do treat them well in that initial process, you’ll find that they’ll give you a bit extra in the future as well, you know, because they appreciate the way they’ve been treated.

But if it starts off, I’m gonna get as much as I can out of you for as little as possible.

Yeah.

Well, that’s not really a good employer employee relationship and yeah, you, you’re doomed to failure anyway. So yeah, I wouldn’t recommend it as a long term strategy.

Well, I I gotta say, there was stunned silence in the sandwich shop, at the way I put the alfalfa on and they thought the alfalfa Messiah had come. Nonetheless, I didn’t get the job, Sue.

Ohh, you ended up on radio there must be a line for that.

Exactly. Yeah. Right. Thank you for that. Sue I always enjoy our chats and I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

You’re welcome. Sue Ellson, Career Expert and Author

Social Share

TRIAL SHIFTS // Do you know a young person starting out on their employment journey who has had to complete a ‘trial shift’ of three to five hours for zero pay? 🤔 In this interview with Tony Moclair on Nine‘s 3AW Radio today, we discuss:

✅ trials can only be used to assess your capability
✅ young people can join local clubs to ask for job referrals
✅ parents need to ensure their children understand what is reasonable
✅ employers need to think about long term relationships when considering a trial process

This story was initiated by a column by Dr Kirstin Ferguson AM in The Age newspaper.

Thanks to Bianca Johnston for the invitation to contribute!

➡️ Have you ever been asked to do a ‘free trial shift’ that was not a genuine pre-work assessment?

https://omny.fm/shows/3aw-afternoons/tony-moclair-chats-with-sue-ellson-career-expert

#jobs #careers #3aw #sueellson