This Ontario company will pay you for a job interview and here's how much

FoodShare Toronto, a food-centric non-profit organization, said as of March 1 they will pay job applicants $75 per interview they conduct with the company. (Pexels)

A Canadian company is attracting attention for a new policy that began this month where they will pay candidates who are offered a job interview.

FoodShare Toronto, a food-centric non-profit organization, said as of March 1 they will pay job applicants $75 per interview they conduct with the company.

"I think employers have gotten off scot free for far too long by expecting candidates to bear the costs of an interview," FoodShare Toronto CEO Paul Taylor told CTV News Toronto on Friday. "We recognize that people sometimes have to take time off work to go for an interview. People have to commute, pay for transit or get childcare and we think employers should and should be paying for that."

Taylor said the company will also pay candidates, at the rate of pay for the job they're applying to, if they're required to do any presentation or assignment as part of the interview process. 

Taylor said paying candidates $75 per interview not only shows respect, but can also be the difference between an unemployed candidate being able to put food on the table that week. 

"I feel like capitalism has really given workers a raw deal," Taylor said. "And I think that's one of the things that we're also pushing back on. We want to inspire as much change as possible because I think many of the things that we've been convinced are unchangeable are absolutely changeable."

Taylor said FoodShare Toronto has also implemented a policy where all employees must earn more than the living wage, which is $22 per hour.

"Our minimum wage is $24 an hour. It doesn't matter if you're packing boxes in the in the warehouse or if you're working on one of our farm sites. Everybody who works at FoodShare makes at least $24 an hour," he said.

 

 

 

 

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He also said the company has a policy where the highest paid worker can't make more than three times the lowest paid employee.

"People are not just workers," Taylor said. "It's about giving them the respect they deserve."

'HUMANIZE THE PROCESS'

Tricia Williams, the director of research, evaluation and knowledge mobilization at the Future Skills Centre, said this FoodShare Toronto's policy to pay for interviews "signals that they recognize the value of people's time."

"What FoodShare is doing is making the process very human and saying 'We recognise the value of this we're willing to put money on it,'" Williams said. "This is good business practice."

Williams said a policy like this one helps to start the relationship off between an employer and candidate on a respectful level.

She said she hasn't heard of other companies who are doing this currently, but says it is a "unique" idea that helps make the interview process easier for candidates.

"It says to the candidate 'We want you here,'" she said. "Anything, I think, that serves to humanize the process a little bit more is going to get attention."  

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