I've never come across sightreading in the dozens of orchestral auditions I've done in the US, even though it was frequently listed it as a possibility. I probably didn't make it far enough in many of them to get asked for it anyway. I have had to do sightreading in several US military band auditions though, often in the 2nd round, and with a metronome sample to base your tempo on!

One thing to keep in mind is that there are many reasons for an audition committee to come to a no-hire result. Sometimes qualified candidates are denied simply because there were differences of opinion between committee members or between the committee and the MD, and a deadlock results. This is of course something beyond the candidates’s control, and frankly beyond the control of individual committee members as well. It’s an imperfect system because human beings are running the process. But I don’t think orchestras should have a mechanism (self-imposed or otherwise) that forces them to hire or even trial someone out of an audition no matter what—that would inevitably result in some unintended and damaging consequences. So as long as that discretion remains, no-hires remain a possibility.

Ben Smolen won his trial. Congrats to him!