Octus Senior Reporter interview questions

Initial phone interview with HR and hiring manager, in office interview with several people, followed by exams. The HR team very professional and interviewers were friendly. The tests include writing a hard news piece - if you have a business journalism experience, then you won't have any issues. The other parts include writing a reporter and suggesting story ideas. This part is ridiculous and unfair because they are asking job seekers for ideas that they can potentially use. In other words, exploit job seekers for free work. This is something that startups do, but the likes of HSBC, JPMorgan Chase or Marsh & McClennan will not do. Two week after I finished the test, I heard from the company that the job is on hold due to internal changes. I appreciated the company's transparency and how professionally and helpfully HR handled my candidacy. HOWEVER, given the amount time and effort I put into completing the test, I was disappointed with the company.