The Cost of Being Led On: When a Job Interview Becomes a Free Consulting Gig

Over the past year, a growing number of professionals—especially in eCommerce, digital leadership, and product roles—have quietly voiced the same concern:

“This job interview is starting to feel like a consulting engagement I didn’t agree to.”

It’s a pattern emerging across industries: highly experienced candidates are being pulled into extended interview loops where they’re asked to review conversion funnels, propose org charts, outline 30/60/90 plans, even analyze platform migration decisions—all before an offer is ever on the table.

And in some cases, those offers never come.

The Interview Loop That Looks Like Free Work

Multiple colleagues have shared stories of interviews that start strong: exciting conversations with the founder, strategic brainstorming with the leadership team, requests to workshop real problems. The tone is collaborative, even energizing.

But at some point, the process starts to drift. Follow-ups slow down. The scope of what’s being asked increases. And without realizing it, the candidate is giving away high-value thinking—often for a company that hasn’t clearly committed to them as a hire.

This isn’t just frustrating—it’s costly. Time, energy, and intellectual property are being spent with no guarantee of reciprocity.

Where the Line Gets Blurry

The line between “getting to know how someone thinks” and “extracting free expertise” is thinner than it seems. The intention may not be malicious. In some cases, companies genuinely don’t realize they’re crossing a boundary.

But the result is the same: candidates are left wondering if they were ever truly being considered—or simply tapped for ideas a company didn’t know how to source internally.

What Better Looks Like

From conversations with both hiring managers and job seekers, a few best practices stand out:

For companies:

• Be transparent about where you are. If hiring isn’t a sure thing yet, say so up front.
• Set clear boundaries on strategy work. If you’re asking someone to solve live business problems, consider formalizing it as paid advisory time.
• Respect time investment. Multi-week processes with heavy asks should only happen for finalists.

For candidates:

• Ask clarifying questions early. Who else is in the running? How many stages? Is the scope of work typical for this point in the process?
• Track reciprocity. Is the company investing as much time and insight in you as you are in them?
• Know your own red flags. If the process is starting to feel lopsided, it probably is.

How Candidates Can Share Value Without Giving Away the Goods

Candidates in strategic roles often want to show how they think. But there’s a difference between demonstrating your approach and delivering your IP.

Here are a few tactics professionals are using to strike that balance:

• Describe your frameworks, don’t solve their problem directly.
  Instead of proposing a specific fix for their site speed issue, talk about how you typically diagnose site performance and prioritize fixes in sprints.
• Use hypotheticals or anonymized examples.
  “Here’s how I approached a similar replatforming project” keeps the focus on your skills without applying them to the company’s exact situation.
• Ask for feedback instead of giving it all away.
  “If I were in the role, I'd start with a discovery sprint to validate X. Would that approach align with how your team typically works?”
• Scope your responses.
  “Happy to share a high-level outline, but I'd want to dive deeper in a more formal capacity if we go forward.”
• Mirror their commitment.
  If they’re being vague, don’t feel obligated to submit a 5-page strategic roadmap. Match depth with depth.

Balancing Confidence with Reality: The Emotional Side of Interviewing

There’s another layer here—less visible, but deeply felt.

Many candidates overextend not just because they want the job, but because they fear not getting it. They worry that if they don’t “wow” every step of the way, they’ll be passed over. So they give more. Work harder. Deliver deeper insight.

But that mindset—while understandable—is risky.

The reality is: you can give an outstanding performance and still not get the job.
The org may change priorities. They may hire internally. They may just… go quiet.

You can’t control the outcome. But you can control how you show up—and how you value your own time.

The professionals who navigate this best are the ones who’ve internalized two things:

• My experience is valuable, and it’s okay to protect it.
• Even if I don’t get the role, I don’t leave pieces of myself scattered along the way.

Confidence isn’t about assuming you’ll win. It’s about refusing to sell yourself short out of fear you won’t.

When candidates treat their insight like it has value, it sets a tone. It’s not arrogance—it’s clarity. And the right employers respect that.

Final Thought

The job interview process, especially at senior levels, has become increasingly complex—and in many cases, increasingly blurred. What starts as a candidate evaluation too often turns into unpaid strategic input. Sometimes it’s intentional. Often it’s not.

But here’s the truth: when candidates respect their own expertise, it invites the process to rise to a higher standard. And when companies are clear, respectful, and aligned, it signals they’re ready for a real partnership—not just ideas.

Hiring works best when both sides are honest about what’s being asked, what’s being offered, and what stage they’re truly in. Candidates don’t need to over-give. Employers don’t need to over-extract. Both need to show up with transparency and respect.

There’s a better way to do this. And it starts with treating insight like it matters—because it does.