Job seeker highlights how employer is extracting free labor from applicants

It was seen earlier that employers would come up with different ways to manipulate their potential employees. However, it has changed now as people in current times know better about their job life and they do not get easily influenced by unnecessary external factors. All this is a sign of changing times, a recent example of which was presented by u/Specific_Award6385 on Reddit. The OP shared a picture of a job advertisement for a Director for Marketing "Rockstar" and called out the employer for seeking marketing strategy ideas from applicants without any financial compensation.  

"Just say you are trying to get marketing strategy ideas without paying for it," wrote the user, sparking debate over employers extracting free labor. The advertisement caught the attention of the Reddit user as the company had asked for "ideas and recommendations on how we can enhance and drive our business" from those who were applying for the job. People are saying it is a clever way to ask job seekers for ideas to make a business better without paying them. 

While this makes for a clever idea, it shows that this company does not compensate its workers well and it is not a sign of a healthy workplace. We can also see how the company wants to hire a marketing professional but they want ideas from all people who are applying for the job without any consideration for their time and efforts. People on Reddit realized this and they were quick to react to the post. 

u/qualityoverquant wrote, "Besides the fact that so-called rockstars wanna work for Google, not a guy who would blatantly steal ideas at an interview." u/aspiringcozyperson commented, "I was working with a hiring team who almost rejected a candidate I was working with because the candidate pushed back on the take-home assignment, citing a time she caught a company using her suggestions and designs on a marketing campaign. They said it was a 'red flag,' she wanted more clarification and wasn’t just so excited about the company she’d take it no questions asked." 

u/guardian5895 commented, "I'm looking for ideas on how to do my job without actually doing my job. And you look just like the sap to help me for free. Have a seat, please." OP replied, "Right. This isn’t normal at the very beginning of a job post when you haven’t even spoken to a hiring manager or have had an opportunity to show samples of your work or discuss past projects to see if it’s worth moving forward on both sides." u/crypticedge revealed, "I've had places that wanted proposals and that sort where they were fishing for expertise on what to do in the form of a bid, then they'd use those bids to get their internal people to implement it." u/Okaybath1056 had an interesting observation to add, "I guess the allure of unpaid internships and 'exposure' never really loses its charm!" 

It is true that many companies have adapted to this kind of recruitment but it does not speak well of the work culture and now, many prospective employees are opening up about it.