A woman has gone viral on TikTok after revealing the incredibly extensive recruitment process she was put through by one company – including unpaid work – only to then be “ghosted” by them.
Florence Fahmy, who works as a social creative and art director, was interviewing for a role with an unnamed fashion brand during a previous job hunt.
The eager candidate says she went through six rounds of interviewing, only for the brand to ask her to complete an “assessment” – which she says consisted of a large amount of work to be delivered in one working day.
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Suspicious of the “urgency” behind the request, and concerned she would be working for free with no formal offer of employment, Florence responded with a few questions.
But despite the rigorous recruitment process, the young woman claims she was completely “ghosted” by the company in a TikTok which garnered 1.5 million views.
In the video, shared with What’s The Jam, Florence – currently based in New York, US – uses the “put a finger down if” trend to convey the story, holding up a hand with the fingers outstretched.
She says: “Put a finger down if you have done six job interviews with a fashion brand and for the final interview they said if they like you, they will progress with an offer.
“You do the interview, you think it all goes well, and you get an email at about 6 pm on a Thursday – a very informal email – asking you to complete an assessment.
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“They never mentioned that an assessment or an assignment would be part of the interview process.
“It is an entire social strategy, a launch plan, and a four-week content rollout for an active campaign that they had mentioned throughout all of your interviews, saying that this would be your job if you were hired.
“You think, ‘Hmm, this is a bit suspicious’, also there’s a bit of a sense of urgency behind it [as] they’re asking you to deliver it by Monday, leaving you one working day to complete this assignment.
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“[I] sent back a very polite email going, ‘I’m a little conscious knowing this is an active campaign, to put myself at ease would you be able to answer a few of my questions?’.”
Florence says her response asked if she was the final candidate in the process, what the timeline for a final offer would be following the assessment, how the assessment would be judged, and enquiring about signing a mutual NDA (non-disclosure agreement) to prevent them from using her ideas for free.
She adds: “You never hear back, ever.
“Technically you were ghosted after six interviews because you questioned doing a campaign for an active project because you were slightly suspicious that they were going to use your ideas for free.”
Completing the trend, she puts a finger down, indicating this happened to her.
The post garnered more than 120,000 likes and thousands of comments.
One viewer wrote: “6 rounds is insane!!!!! Name them sis.”
“6 interviews?! That’s the red flag right there,” said another user.
Someone else commented: “Mutual NDA is a great idea.”
“At a certain level job interviews become free consulting for the company…well done calling them on it,” another person agreed.
Another user added: “They were definitely going to steal your ideas for free. That is why I hate job applications that include a task/assignment.”
Even the LinkedIn official account got involved, saying she “deserves so much better”.
“There’s definitely a time and place for assessments, but I believe there are better ways to evaluate candidates than asking them to work on an existing campaign,” Florence told What’s The Jam.
“For instance, using a hypothetical brief or discussing in detail past campaigns and their creative process can provide valuable insights.
“When companies ask experienced candidates to provide ‘free work’ that includes their creative IP, it not only undervalues the role but also discredits the creative industry as a whole.”
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