• They Reached Out To Me: Eyestorm reached out to me on LinkedIn, asking me to apply for their social media community manager position. First of all, the position was highly suspicious. They’ve had it open nationwide for a social media manager role, and it’s been open for 3 months. They still claim they haven't filled this role when on the LinkedIn app, it shows the actual number of applicants was 933! This is public knowledge.
• False Company Info: The job posting also factitiously states that this creative agency has 51-200 employees when this is FALSE. According to LinkedIn, they’re not 51-200 employees, but more like 5-7 people work there. I’d be shocked if the number was more. They erroneously opened up this position to anyone in the U.S. when the job really calls for someone to be in the Los Angeles area. Why do you need to gather 933 applicants from all over the U.S. unless the company is unethically mining for free marketing ideas from prospective candidates? Why not only advertise it in Los Angeles where the client that this position will be working with is based? In fact, that's what the CEO told me is that this position would require going to Santa Monica once a week, which I was prepared to do.
• Expected To Do Free Work: During an interview, the CEO acted like he was ready to offer but needed to negotiate salary. Firstly, the job posting claims that the position is based on experience and that the range was "open," which ended up not being true. The company strung me along with inconsistent salary claims for this role and the salary I was quoted was low for SoCal. But what was worse was that I was asked to do an 8-page slide deck presentation filled with content, marketing, social growth, and strategy ideas. All for free at the claim of getting the job! I normally never do this type of speck work. From experience, 99% of companies asking for spec work assignments for a job are mining for free ideas with either A) no intention of hiring the person or B) they select someone and, at the same time, opportunistically gather as many free ideas as possible from non-selected job candidates. As a woman of color, my education, work experience, and portfolio should be more than enough. My time should’ve been respected, but that’s not what happened here.
• Suspicious Behavior: Additionally, this advertised position is supposed to be managing some bizarre Instagram account for a humanitarian client. But the client has zero monetization methods, which is also highly suspicious. Again, they never even had the common courtesy to thank me or acknowledge receipt of the assignment. So, I followed up with the CEO and he never responded back. I did this 8-page slide-deck assignment against my better judgment and even turned it in early. After almost 3 weeks, I emailed them, calling them out on their unprofessionalism and unethical hiring practices. I retracted my candidacy and told Eyestorm to never contact me again. It was only after I emailed them retracting my candidacy that they thanked me for my email and gave a pseudo-apology for the fact that I was retracting my candidacy.
• To Future Applicants: Run! This job posting by Eyestorm is highly suspicious and appears like they’re mining for free marketing ideas! It is very odd to have a position open for 3 months with tons of applicants and the position hasn't been filled. It's also suspicious that they make you do extensive work just for the promise of a job. It is unethical at best.
