Some time back, I could not resist sending the following reply to this person at the recruitment agency:
Dear Sandhya,
Is this a joke? Did anyone really go through the so called assignments before forwarding them to me? Are they asking me to build two full-fledged websites in 12 hours? Best of luck finding candidates who can do that.
BTW, if you can get candidates to build these sites for you, why do you have to recruit them? I have to admit, this is an excellent way to get your works done for free.
I am sorry. I genuinely not interested in working for such a stupid company.
(Thanks for contacting me with the offer though. Really appreciate that. Let me know if there are openings in companies which are not looking for superman as their programmer.)
- Niyaz
I am refraining from attaching the two assignments they asked me to complete before the interview. Not because I don’t want to expose the actual company that tried to trick me into building the websites for free, but because when you see the requirements which will make Facebook ashamed of themselves, it will make you sick for the rest of the day.
Oh, come one, show us the assignments! Blank out the company names though.
I once had someone approach me for a quote for their website who refused to tell me what they actually did and what they wanted the site to do. Just wanted an “e-commerce website.” Apparently their idea was so incredible that they were afraid someone else would steal it from them.
I agree with Carl. Show us the assignments! I’d like to add it to my growing list of war stories. LOL
Sometime ago I was asked to complete an automation system, that would handle document transfers for aprox. a thousand of companies (with encryption and stuff) in three months. They had something written, but most of the work was to be done.
Malo, malo, malo… aquí en Chile es común encontrarse con empresas de ese tipo, generalmente son dirigidas por un sujeto que nada sabe de sitios web y contrata a estudiantes recién egresados de Diseño Gráfico o carreras similares, a un sueldo de unos $ 100 USD mensuales por 12 horas diarias durante 6 días a la semana. Los diseñadores novatos son los que más sufren en este país ya que nuestro trabajo no es valorado. Una vez me contrató un “jefe” por $ 58 UDS al mes por 10 horas durante 5 días a la semana, alcancé a durar 3 meses antes de renunciar por inanición. Actualmente trabajo de forma independiente y gano un promedio de $ 250 USD mensuales.