Pune Job-Seeker Rejected Unpaid Work Offer for 8 Months: ‘We’ll Think of Salary Later’
A Pune man named Pranav has shared his experience of a walk-in interview where he claims a company asked him to work without a salary for several months before considering offering him a paid role.
In a post shared on X, Pranav said he arrived at the interview with hope amid a difficult job market but was surprised by the conversation during his first round with HR.
An offer for an unpaid job Pranav said the initial round was not about his technical skills, projects, or previous experience. In fact, the first round wasn’t even technical — it was straight with HR. “Instead of asking about my skills, projects, or experience, the first serious discussion was: ‘would you be willing to work unpaid for the next 6–8 months? if things go well, we’ll think about offering you a salary,’” he wrote. “I genuinely thought they were joking,” he added.
Pranav was shocked that after years of studying, building projects, and learning new technologies, candidates could be asked to work full-time without guaranteed pay. “Imagine spending years studying, building projects, learning new technologies, preparing for interviews, and then being told to work full-time for free with only the possibility of getting paid someday,” he wrote.
Not an internship Pranav said he believed such an arrangement was different from a structured internship or training programme. In internships, interns often go without a stipend or earn a very low amount. This company, however, was hiring for a full-time role. “That’s not an internship with a structured stipend or a defined training program. It's simply asking someone to take all the risk while the company takes none,” he said.
He also shared his observations about the organisation’s size, claiming it appeared to have only two people managing everything. “From what I observed during my visit, the organization appeared to have only two people handling everything—the CEO and the HR representative. Yet they had organized a mass walk-in hiring drive,” he wrote.
Respect their time and effort Pranav clarified that he was not criticizing smaller companies, saying every organisation starts somewhere. “I’m not judging a company’s size. Every successful company starts small,” he wrote. However, he added that companies should be transparent with candidates and respect their time. “But if you’re hiring people, at least respect their time and effort. Don’t invite hundreds of candidates only to ask them to work for free for months,” he said.
Ending his post, the Pune man urged job seekers to value their skills despite the challenges of the current job market. “Don’t let desperation normalize unpaid full-time work disguised as opportunity. The job market is rough, but this shouldn’t become the new normal,” he concluded.
