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Prospective employee feeling confident after an interview with a new company.
(Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)
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Job-seeker working hard to make a good impression during his interview.
(Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.)
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Job recruitment, especially at the senior level, is a huge commitment from both parties: Both the company and the prospective employee.
Although, as anyone who's been around the block in the workforce long enough can attest, the modern interview process feels extremely archaic, arbitrated, and, more importantly, lacks a certain sense of urgency that many out-of-work employees require.
They need this job right now, not 8 interviews, several rounds, and multiple 1-on-1's later. At a certain point, usually after the 1st, 2nd, or maybe 3rd unpaid interview, prospective hires start to ask themselves: Is this job opportunity worth all of this effort?
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However, much like a tranquil garden, a DIY home project, or a challenging hobby, finding a new job can be a rewarding experience for job-seekers, and the work you put into your candidacy is reciprocated by recruiters and future managers or higher-ups. Yet, the balance between sunk time costs and future benefits can be easily disrupted when the trust between recruiter and interviewee is broken. After months of the will-they-won't-they dance between interviewers and their prospects, the facade of pleasantries begins to crack. Humble brags are tested, and promises are strained as time goes on, putting pressure on the future outcome of a person's career.
If their faith in the company is rocked, the fragile ecosystem of interview questions, resumes, and cover letters can be disrupted, hurling the entire job application process into the garbage, which, for most companies, is where it belongs. Especially if companies are using job applications and trial projects to extort free labor out of hopeful job candidates.
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Exposing the company for what they were truly doing, this job candidate may have risked his future career and burnt a bridge with a potential partner, but they revealed the bitter truth behind employee exploitation.
This is an ugly reality in the job market these days that is becoming overexploited and normalized. Similarly to how society turned its back on unpaid internships, perhaps the shame of labor exploitation will lead to reform in the job application department. But until then, I suppose the working man can only retaliate by protecting their own work, calling out the recruiter's farce, and doing the right thing by themselves and their career.
Which, in this case, was to implode the system from within, one gatekept file at a time.
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