Oh boy. I currently work at a top 5 publishing company—I applied for a job at Sizzle Press because the opportunity to build a licensing portfolio from the ground up sounded neat. I wasn’t thrilled with the books on their current list (in my opinion, they are several years off-trend) but everyone was kind, looking to expand rapidly, and it sounded like they had a solid business strategy. Everything was great until after my third interview. I was given an editorial test which was to create a licensing plan for Sizzle Press in under 48 hours. That was pretty aggressive, but I submitted my assignment anyway and felt great about it. That evening, I received an e-mail from the Publisher asking very targeted questions about existing licenses at my current place of employment. She asked if my licensing plan could “take real estate away” from these licenses and “secure retail space.” She asked how Sizzle could “differentiate” themselves from my company's licenses. This is wildly unethical. The licenses she called out were ones I currently work on. Disclosing any information regarding retail space and/or future plans would violate the NDA at my current employer and put me in jeopardy of losing my job. I replied kindly, thanked her for her enthusiasm, but told her that I currently was not in a position to discuss any specifics regarding those licenses. This was my last interaction with the publisher. After that, HR called two out of my three contacts. I assumed I was moving closer to getting the job, though frankly, I was beginning to see several red flags. However, I was wrong! I was told I was a bad fit for the job! (And dear lord, I agree.) This place is predatory, incredibly unprofessional, and doesn’t value their applicant’s time, nor their references’. Even without the weird, unethical questions, it's pretty telling that three interviews + an editorial assignment was not enough to make a decision--the publisher still pressed for more and more information. It feels like I was interviewed as a form of market research. Just run.