A fresher recently shared a heartbreaking experience on Reddit, calling out a company for scamming job seekers by making them do free work and then cutting contact.
The candidate said this was their first-ever job interview. After clearing the HR round, the company gave them a big assignment: 10 LinkedIn posts and 3 blogs to be completed in just two days. Even with the short deadline, the fresher worked hard and submitted everything on time.
The company replied with praise and soon sent another task. The hopeful applicant did that too, thinking they were close to getting the job.
Later, they were told they were selected, and an offer letter followed. Excited, the fresher informed their family and stopped applying elsewhere, believing the job was confirmed.
But on the joining day, there was complete silence—no emails, no onboarding call. After trying to contact the company all day, they finally received a message in the evening:
“Sorry, we can’t move forward.”
That was it—no explanation, no apology.
The fresher was left shocked and deeply hurt. “Now, whenever another company asks me to do assignments, I feel like they’re just using me,” the person wrote, explaining how the experience broke their trust.
They also mentioned that it wasn’t a small company, but a well-known one that regularly posts about work culture and employer branding on LinkedIn.
Many users on Reddit supported the fresher and shared similar experiences. Some advised reporting such job posts as scams. Others suggested using the assignments to build a personal portfolio instead.
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One comment stood out:
“It’s not just how they treat freshers—it’s how they treat people who fall for it.”
This post has sparked a larger conversation about companies misusing the hiring process to get free work, especially from freshers who are just starting their careers.
