I applied a few months ago for a Science Curriculum Designer position. I had read the reviews on here with people saying that they use applicants to get free work out of them, but I figured those were the words of people bitter they hadn't been chosen, so I ignored it. Big mistake!
Like everyone else, I received an interview request almost immediately after submitting my application, and my first interview was the easiest I've ever had. I think the guy asked me about 4 questions and it lasted around 20 minutes. So far so good. Then I was asked to complete the written assignment, which I spent hours on because I really wanted this job. I have experience in this field and felt quite confident about moving to the next round, and I was legitimately shocked and devastated when I got the "thanks but no thanks" e-mail. After being sad, I got suspicious. I looked through the glassdoor reviews, and it looked like no one was getting hired for any curriculum designer jobs. So I decided to do some sleuthing.
Because I've worked in this field before, I have multiple contacts who do work similar to IXL's. One of them was going to a conference she knew IXL employees would be at, so I asked her to ask a few questions about how the company's expansion was going, if they'd hired a lot of new people recently etc... General shop talk from a colleague in the field.
My friend reported that the two IXL employees she spoke to seemed very uncomfortable and made some comments about not having enough money to hire a lot of new workers at the moment, then they very firmly changed the subject.
Now, none of this is definite proof they're using applicants to get free work, but there are a lot of red flags to me. One is how easy the first round interview is; clearly they want everyone to move to the next round and complete the assignment for them. Another is that, via IXL's website, they are have not filled a single curriculum designer position in any field at either office. These openings have existed since at least March (when I first saw them). None of those jobs are particularly senior or specialized; they could all absolutely be filled if they wanted to. Add that to the fact IXL's workers admit the company is not doing well financially and my own interviewer's statement that the company was trying to create a lot of new science and history curricula very quickly, and I think every person who said they're using applicants is 100% correct. It may seem like I put in a lot of work finding out about this company, but I was so frustrated that I had put in all that time to apply and never found out why they didn't want me that I wanted to just figure out WHY.
