Job candidate declines request of unpaid assignments disguised as part of hiring process

Interviews can be a demanding process for many people. Organizations often use it to test an employee's capability for a position they are hiring for. With that being said, many companies take advantage of candidates using interviews to get work done for free. The harsh nature of the job market often forces prospects to do tedious tasks with hope, only to be rejected in the end. Reddit user u/Reign_World shared an interview incident where they refused to let a company exploit them under the premise of an interview.

The job seeker states that they had gone through a phone call interview and a full 1-hour interview with two managers from the company. Both of the meetings went well. They write, "I'm over qualified for the role and a very good fit for the company due to my previous experience." The company they were applying for was similar to Airbnb, renting out properties for short periods. However, things quickly took a turn as the candidate did not receive any communication from the organization during the week following the interview.

They mentioned, "No response. Nothing. I assumed I had been ghosted." Eventually, the organization reached out to them. The communication the individual received did not contain any apology for the lack of contact. It only had a list of tasks the job seeker was supposed to do for free as part of the third interview. Recognizing what they were trying to do, the job seeker refused to do the work. They replied, asking if they were actually joking. The job seeker shares that they know this is a common occurrence in the job market. They then shared the entire list of free, unpaid tasks they were asked to do by the company. The primary tasks included recommendations for improving social media engagement and drafting a social media campaign for a month.

In addition to that, the job seeker was supposed to share the tactics behind their approach and content. Shockingly, the company then attached an actual performance report from Meta that showed poor results. The individual states how they wanted to give out free suggestions to improve the viewership of their content. They write, "Something an ad campaign manager would usually get paid to do. Which isn't even the role I am going for."

The post concludes with the candidate expressing concern as this was the third time they were almost taken advantage of while applying for jobs. Other job seekers on the platform had similar stories to share in the comments section. u/silverkernel commented, "This is becoming more common. My wife had it done to her. Not doing the same work, but for improvements, etc. Then they ghost you. It's literally just a way to get free work done."

u/I_Am_Dixon_Cox hilariously suggested: "Do a 30-minute slide show on how you don't work for free." Another user, u/Few_Blacksmith_8704, said, "They probably sent this to 100 individuals and they know there's a few suckers that will do it and then they'll be ghosted. Good on you to stand your ground."