I applied for a software engineer position and was invited for an on-site interview with the CEO. Since this is a startup, they don't have an office yet, so they are using a "WeWork" type site in Soho. By the time I am writing this review, they only had three people at the company: the CEO and two young engineers. I went for the in-person with the CEO, which is not a tech person, and he told me this was not "a regular 9-5 job" and that it was mandatory to be at the office five days a week. They also would be underpaying for the position because it was a startup. He told me that he would be sending me a take-home assignment, and if everything went well, they would be inviting me for a trial week with them so they could see how I worked. It's a really weird model of hiring since I would have to take an entire week off from my other job just to do this trial week without having any guarantee that I would get the job (think about you using an entire week of PTO from your regular job just to do this). After this trial, I would then find out if they would hire me or not. I was a bit reluctant about this whole thing, but after going to the meeting and certifying it was "legit", I accepted to do the home assessment, which was to build a help desk website using React in five days. I did it in 3 days and submitted the assignment, and four days later, I heard back via email saying they liked it and would love to have me on board for the trial week the following week (the details of it would be outlined via a consulting agreement). The next day, I had a Zoom video-call with his engineering team (which is comprised of only two people, as I said), and both of them were nice and professional and highlighted how excited they were to work with me for the trial week. I finished the Zoom call and immediately sent an email to the CEO with my availability and said I would wait for the consulting agreement before asking further questions. After this, the CEO simply GHOSTED ME. He stopped replying to my emails and LinkedIn DMs and never sent the consulting agreement. I felt that was very unprofessional since I wasted my time doing an on-site interview and building an entire website from scratch. I have his email inviting me for the trial, and the two engineers clearly said that I would be doing the trial with them, so the least I expected, if they changed their mind, is feedback! I don't care if you changed your mind at the last minute because you didn't like my face or due to budget constraints, but don't hide behind a keyboard after putting a candidate through a lengthy application process that includes a home assessment and this absurd trial week that requires candidates to forgo an entire work week for you to "gauge their skills" (AKA work for free/underpaid). People are not at your disposal! Create a fair and transparent hiring process that doesn't exploit people and provides reasonable feedback. Learn how to be professional if you really want to build a real business in New York City.