Good Faith Hiring

Time: respect people's time, and apply with care

Commitment 6 of 8GFH-E6 and GFH-C6Draft 1
Employers GFH-E6

Respect people's time

Explain the stages and rough timeline at the start. Keep unpaid tasks short, and offer adjustments at every stage, such as extra time, a different format or questions in writing.

Unpaid take-home tasks of 3 hours at most; pay for anything longer.

What counts

  • The stages and a rough timeline are set out in the advert or the first reply.
  • Unpaid take-home tasks take 3 hours at most. Longer tasks are paid.
  • Adjustments are offered at every stage.
Candidates GFH-C6

Apply with care

Send fewer applications and mean each one. AI and assistive tools can help you write. What you say must be true.

You've read the whole advert and can say why you fit.

What counts

  • You've read the whole advert, and your application says why you fit this role.

Why it matters

A five-stage process with a weekend-long task asks a lot of someone who has a job, children or a disability. A pile of copy-paste applications asks a lot of whoever reads them. Each side’s shortcuts cost the other side time.

For employers

Tell people what the process looks like before they start. “A 30-minute call, a 90-minute technical interview, then a final chat, all within three weeks” is enough.

Keep unpaid take-home tasks to 3 hours at most. If the task needs longer, pay for it. A task should test the must-haves, not deliver free work.

Offer adjustments at every stage, and make it easy to ask. Examples include extra time, questions in writing in advance, a different format for a task, or a video call instead of travelling. Say how to ask in your first reply (see commitment 7).

For candidates

Apply for fewer jobs, and make each one count. Read the whole advert, check the first four commitments, and say in your application why you fit this role.

AI and assistive tools can help you write. Spelling tools, dictation and AI drafting are all fine. What you say must be true, and it should be about this job, not every job.

Questions

Is sending lots of applications against the standard? The number isn’t the problem. Sending the same application to roles you haven’t read is.

Can an employer reject me for using AI? This standard doesn’t ask employers to. It asks that what you send is true and written for the role.

Think this should say something different?

Suggest a change in GitHub Discussions or email hello@goodfaithhiring.co.uk. Please don't name employers or people.