'I firmly and categorically DECLINED': Job applicant asked to do free, unpaid work as part of the interview process, he rejects them

Being tasked with performing action items during an interview process that only a full-time employee should be doing is the reddest of red flags. No matter how desperate you are for work, you have to be aware that there is absolutely nothing stopping these potential employers from taking your unpaid work, running with it, and still not giving you the job at the end of the day. If this happens to you as a prospective applicant, please know that you should feel empowered enough to send an inquiry about a contract before performing said task. No amount of desperation should stop you from doing so because if you cave now, who's to say that you won't be exploited down the road? 

This thread was posted to Reddit by u/Reign_World, who thankfully had the wherewithal to stand up for himself. This was the third time these unrealistic expectations were thrown at OP during an interview process, so perhaps he had been exploited in the past and knew what he was dealing with this time around. We hope that anyone who has not yet been through this kind of process can take OP's advice and be on the lookout before running into this kind of situation. You don't have to be exploited once in order to stand up for yourself the next time. You have the ability to take in stories like this one and learn from them before you're in the thick of it yourself.

Keep scrolling below for the full story and the best reactions in the comments section. For more content like this, here's another post about an employee whose selfish boss was ridiculous about timeliness.