Long-time lurker, first-time poster. I'm on the second step of interviewing for a writing position that would pay a salary that's more than double my previous wage. This step entails creating a blog post related to their field, to show them what I can do. They gave me almost a full week to do it, but I took a few hours from my weekend to finish it so I could submit it early.
Before /r/antiwork, I would've left it at that. Now, I can't help seeing this as doing what I usually do in my profession, except for free. Please note that I don't expect them to steal it from me, as they asked for a much lower word count than they use for their actual blog. Still, it wasn't nothing! The idea of offering a free sample doesn't sit right with me anymore (and they could also base a longer article off it!).
I'm not gonna ask you guys if I should send them an invoice. I've been here long enough to know the response. I'm here to ask how y'all would advise me to approach it. I should've thought to ask when they first gave me this task a few days ago, but I was too nervous. Even now, I'm a little worried that asking about compensation for the skills test could tank an interview process that's going swimmingly.
Has anyone here actually done this with success (as in, you asked and they agreed and they paid the invoice)? Heck, should I just let this possibly trivial matter go? Why does asking about something as simple as compensation for labor feel so difficult when it's about a part of an interview?