Need some advice to ace this job interview

[Archimedes]

I'm currently employed at an entry level position as an software consultant and am currently looking to get into another company. The job offer is for the same kind of position. However, what attracted me to this company is its commitment to build up high quality workers. Something that my current company is lacking in. I've already had a phone interview with the CEO (it's a small company) and it went really well. He seemed like an emphatic guy who cares about his people and he is also highly competent in his field, since he's a computer scientist as well. He also showed great interest in me, because of my very good computer science degree and my one year work experience (the later wasn't required in the job offer). I am scheduled for a face-to-face interview this week and hopefully can close the deal.

 

However, one of the biggest problem to overcome is the fact that the new company wants me to work two weeks for free, so they can judge my abilities before hiring me. Making sure that they only hire competent people is something they have listed on their website, so it's important to them. My contract with my current employer clearly states that work on the side, be it paid or not, must be allowed by them. I don't think they would allow it and I also don't want to quit at my current employer without having something else lined up. Therefore, I'm brainstorming for alternatives that I can offer during the job interview.

 

The things I've come up with so far are:

 

• extend the trial period to the legal maximum time. Only works if it isn't required already

• Offer 3-weeks of free work, if I'm hired. If I don't make it, they can fire me within a notice period of two weeks during the trial period. The additional week is a trade off.

• The CEO of the new company already told me that my degree is one of the best among the people he hired. Because of this and my one year working experience in the same field I estimate the likelihood of me passing the two weeks at 80-90%. Meaning the risk of losing out on somebody with good potential to add value to their company is higher than the risk of hiring a misfit for a short period of time.