The recruiter's message was warm and entirely vague: the head of design loved the work, and could they set up a casual chat — just to exchange perspectives on design? The candidate said yes. Why not.
One week before the call, the recruiter sent the real question. So — are you interested in a full-time role, or contracting? The candidate, who had agreed to a chat and not to an interview, said they had understood this to be a conversation. The recruiter's reply was immediate and final: “so no full-time — sorry, not a good fit this time. maybe you can try next time.”
Try what, the candidate asked — the only reasonable response when a conversation turns out to have been a screening all along.
The bait-and-switch is the ordinary kind of cruelty: a casual chat that was actually round one, a question the candidate was never told was being asked, and a rejection for answering it honestly. Nothing was lied about. Everything was implied. The chat was casual; the decision behind it was not.