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After an initial phone interview, I was assigned an in-depth copy test the following Sunday to complete by my in-person interview that Thursday. They asked me to provide content for a total of three different marketing campaigns based on items currently for sale on their website and requested copy for web, product descriptions, social copy, and emails. Then I had an in-person interview where I presented this which went very well; however, I didn’t get the job. A week later I saw one of my ideas with almost the exact same copy on their Instagram page, I checked their homepage–same thing, and a few days later they sent out an email as well. When I commented on their IG post to ask how they came up with the idea and stated that it was the exact same concept I had provided them with in my copy test just a week or so prior, they deleted my comment and blocked me. Even though they initially told me they had gone with another candidate, no one was hired for this position for almost a year after I interviewed. This leads me to believe they engage in the (unfortunately) common start-up practice of interviewing creatives to obtain new ideas without having to pay for them. Another red flag was that during the interview they barely asked any questions about myself or my work experience, instead they focused on asking me questions about what was or wasn’t working for their brand. Looking back, I feel like I was used as a free consultant of sorts. What is especially troubling to me is that a company marketing ethical and sustainable practices would do something like this. I would be wary of applying here but if you do decide to and end up taking a test, I would make sure to ask how they plan on using your work if you are not hired—I would even go so far as to ask them to sign an NDA, which is one of the recommended ways of preventing this kind of intellectual theft. Perhaps they should use some of the money they save on packaging to actually pay people for their work?

I was scheduled to have a phone screen with Human Resources, lasted about 20 minutes. Very easy interview with pretty standard interview questions, didn't get a second interview but that's okay!