Job candidate completes unpaid free labor for hiring manager, gets rejected for not going above and beyond: '[I] already have a full-time job [and] was only given two days to do this!'

Going through multiple rounds of interviews can feel unnecessary, but having to complete unpaid labor that takes entire days to finish should be a bridge too far for many prospective candidates. Unfortunately, in this day and age, assignments such as these have become standard practice during the recruitment process. Job applicants can expect to have to do a little work in subsequent rounds of interviews prior to sitting down with more people. This is an opportunity for candidates to demonstrate their skillset outside of whatever is written in your cover letter or on your resume. In theory, assignments make sense. However, at the same time, they need to be realistic.

Far too many applicants have had to essentially do work for potential future employers without substantial feedback or support. Sometimes, they do all that work only to be ghosted when scheduling a follow-up interview. Employers have taken the idea of assignments and have instead used them to deceive candidates into doing free work and wasting their time in the process. Keep scrolling below for this one candidate's story, in which he completed what seemed appropriate for a job application and was criticized for not doing more!

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_{The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.}
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Mutual respect for one another's time is an important indicator of a good employer-employee relationship. Candidates should consider if their time is being respected when they are asked to complete assignments that involve a substantial amount of free work. This author was only willing to do so much, as he believed he had already demonstrated his skills in other ways. That may have cost him the employment opportunity in the end, but at least he respected his own time enough not to give it up for someone else!
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"Absolutely inhumane interview process"

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_{The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.}
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