We’ve had enough.

It used to be simple. The résumé got you in the door. The portfolio swung it open. The interview got you a seat at the table.

Then someone added a round.

Recruiter screen. Hiring manager. Then round three: we’d just like to see how you think. A “small assignment.” A “panel interview.”

Sometimes it’s a short exercise. Sometimes it’s a weekend.

If years of work and a handful of interviews didn’t convince them, thirty minutes of slides that took hours to make and rehearse probably won’t either.

We swore we’d say no next time. Then next time came with a paycheck on the other side. And if we say no, someone else gladly says yes. That’s how a practice becomes a norm: not because anyone agreed to it, but because nobody can afford to be the one who refuses.

And handing over original work shouldn’t mean handing over permission to use it. Candidates deserve clear terms about what happens to their ideas after the interview.

An interview should test whether you can do the work without quietly becoming the work.

Now picture a final round done right. A handful of candidates. Each one is either paid for the work or asked about the work they’ve already done. Nobody gives away a weekend to find out who’s good. Nobody wonders where their idea went.

That’s the whole point of this site. It isn’t here to shame anyone. It’s here to count. Each filing records one experience. Together, they make the cost visible.