It's Friday, and I have some TEA to spill.

A few weeks ago, a company reached out to me with an invitation to apply to their community manager role. (I'm not a community manager, btw.)

The pay was top-tier, so it piqued my curiosity. I replied to their email asking about the application process, and I was SHOOK when they shared what the unpaid "test" would be. 5 tasks total, including drafting a complete "community engagement strategy" with 3-5 initiatives. Then, create 3 social media posts. After that, "solve an engagement problem" by proposing 3 specific experience you'd run to improve engagement and retention. But that's not all, folks! After that, you'd have to create a community ritual and finish it all by suggesting ways they can improve.

And that's the heavily paraphrased version. Y'all, when did it become "normal" to ask applicants to solve all of a company's problems before even reaching the interview phase of the hiring process?

It's madness, absolute madness. Needless to say, I politely declined moving forward in the process.