A job applicant took to Reddit and revealed that he invoiced a company for his time spent in a gruelling hiring process, seven interviews and two assessments after ultimately being rejected, and surprisingly, the company paid up.
Sharing his experience on Reddit, he wrote, “After 7 interviews and 2 assessments I didn’t get the job. Invoiced them for my time & they paid it.”
According to the post, this wasn’t his first experience with an intense hiring process. “This was my second time going through 7 interviews and not getting the job,” he shared, adding that in a previous case, the company had a valid reason for rejecting him and even referred him elsewhere.
But this time was different. He described the process as excessive and exploitative, saying, “I had 7 interviews and 2 assessments which is way too much ‘free work’ to ask. One assessment I get, given that the roles I’m applying for are quite senior and pay $160–200K plus.”
After completing the full round, meeting the team, and even discussing reference checks and offer details with the CEO, he was blindsided by the rejection. The reason? His current status as self-employed.
“Then out of the blue they turned me down because I’m self employed currently (I had to be cause I couldn’t get a job),” he explained. “I was very honest about being self employed and that I run my own agency, since the first question, in the first interview so putting me through the remaining of the process was bs.”
Taking matters into his own hands, he decided to bill the company for his time.
“I chatted to the CEO, he took responsibility for it. I told him in this situation I’m gonna bill him for my time – he agreed. I sent them an invoice and they paid it same day.”
Many took to the comments section to commend him for standing up for himself in a process that increasingly leaves candidates feeling used.
One user commented, “Good on you for how you handled this.”
Another pointed out the absurdity of the situation, “Unless you’re applying to be the literal CEO or something no one should ever have to do SEVEN INTERVIEWS !!!”