I’ll start off with, I was casually searching for a new job, I was in no rush. This seemed like a good opportunity and the CEO I was interviewing with made it seem like I was good to go but I just had to do a project as a formality. It was $25/hour and a 20 hour project. Normally I’d say ‘no way’ but because I was casually searching I figured I might as well. To do the project I was granted full access to their systems (Google Analytics, their internal wiki, reporting updates etc.) all to my personal email, as well as access to their Slack. They wanted me to act like I was part of the team and talk to the team to get the work done, again heavily insinuating it’s because I would be on the team. Cut to, I get the project outline and it’s a full strategy project. Analyze their gaps, provide suggestions, and a detailed timeline to implement changes. I was shocked, but thought I was too deep to say no now, and he implied quite heavily the job was mine.
I spoke to a few team members to direct me where I can get some info (I asked for a directory to know who to talk to but they don’t have one, so many red flags) and I conclude the extensive project. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but it’s great and a clearly mapped out execution. I know what to do and figured I’d be doing it for them. They get back to me a week later saying the work I did was great but I didn’t get the job because I didn’t talk to enough people so it’s ‘clear I must work in a silo’ and that’s not what they’re looking for since they all work remote and communication is important. Like, I’m working on a 20 hour project after hours with full access to reporting and data, you want me to chit chat and attend a Zoom happy hour?!
Anyway, that wasn’t the worst thing. Turns out they had no idea they had to turn off my access to their systems so I was constantly getting updates to my emails, including an update from the CEO saying there wasn’t a hire but he will be working on the strategy moving forward and has a plan prepped (ummmm oh really).
I forwarded the update to him and said ‘it seems I’m still getting updates, you can remove me from your systems’ and his tune went very awkward quickly. ‘Oh wow, okay yes didn’t know you had access, do you have any other examples, we will get right on this’ etc. etc.
I learned years ago not to do projects for companies, they have a 3 month probation period for a reason, especially if they want custom plans. I also have examples of my work done at other companies so they should be bright enough to make the leap of faith. However, I was fooled by the ‘this is a formality, I love you’ chatter, and figured a paid project must mean they’re invested. Except the paid project was just so that I couldn’t complain when they used my work and didn’t hire me since they ‘paid for my project and it was theirs’. $25/hour isn’t market value, I would have charged $150+/hour (and likely done it for a 3 month retainer to execute) for this level of strategy. Lesson learned. I eventually went and unsubscribed from all their systems since they couldn’t seem to fix it.
UPDATE: I luckily didn’t put all my eggs in one basket. I received 2 offers from other companies on the day I got this rejection. And they were better opportunities that appreciated my work examples and offered a lot more money to get me onboard.