A software engineer applied to a Hong Kong startup. The CEO conducted the interviews personally — starting 10 minutes late from a noisy restaurant. After noticing the candidate had experience with a specific design tool, he pivoted the process into multiple "skill assessment" sessions using actual production files, not dummy data. The candidate spent six hours across several late-night sessions, including an hour just setting up a trial version of software he didn't own. The moment the CEO downloaded the completed files, communication stopped. No rejection. No follow-up. Just silence. Reddit's r/recruitinghell called it what it was: unpaid consulting billed as hiring.
True story · takehome abuse · Issue —
Six hours of free work, then silence: a Hong Kong startup CEO ran a production sprint disguised as an interview
As told to the Host · Storyteller verified · Software engineer · via r/recruitinghell (cross-posted from r/HongKong)
View source →CEO intro call (10 min late, restaurant)Skill assessment ×2 (production files)Final session (late night)Files downloaded — ghosted
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