No good deed goes unpunished.

There is a growing group of professionals who go online to proclaim that they don’t do any free labor, not even for a job interview. It might sound like a strict rule, especially if the «labor» in question is a test assessing whether they have the skills to do the job, or even the «labor» of doing the interview itself. The definition of labor can get a little lax in online circles. Emotional labor used to mean the act of displaying a certain emotion at work, which can be exhausting and subject to excessive scrutiny. If you’ve ever had to make your voice higher-pitched and «nicer» on the job, you’ve performed emotional labor. But these days, emotional labor refers to any act of emotional support to a family member or friend. If your friend needs your support regarding their unrequited crush, some would say that giving them comfort and encouragement is an act of emotional labor. Household labor is another type of labor that doesn’t generate income but still creates economic value. 

If you’ve never had your work stolen without any money or credit, you might not understand why someone would draw a line in the sand about doing «free labor» for a job interview process. The guy in this story had no problem putting in hours and hours of work, far more than the company asked him to do, for an interview assignment because he was extremely hungry to get a new job and would do anything to secure this position.