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Anti-Exploitation Policy

Protecting candidates and ensuring fair hiring practices

Our Core Commitment

Sparc is built on the principle that candidates should be evaluated fairly on their skills, not exploited for free work. This policy outlines our commitment to protecting candidates and maintaining ethical hiring practices.

1. Challenge Design Standards

All challenges on Sparc must meet these criteria:

  • Reasonable Time Commitment: Challenges should take no more than 2-3 hours to complete
  • Skills Assessment Only: Challenges must assess skills, not produce commercially viable work
  • Generic Scenarios: Challenges should use hypothetical or generalized scenarios, not company-specific projects
  • No Production Use: Work submitted cannot be used in production systems or products

2. Prohibited Practices

Companies are strictly prohibited from:

  • Requesting candidates to complete actual company work as a challenge
  • Using candidate submissions for commercial purposes
  • Creating challenges that take more than 3 hours
  • Requesting multiple rounds of unpaid work
  • Copying or reproducing candidate work without permission
  • Discriminating based on protected characteristics

3. Candidate Rights

Every candidate on Sparc has the right to:

  • Anonymity: Remain anonymous until choosing to reveal their identity
  • Fair Evaluation: AI-powered evaluations based solely on performance
  • Intellectual Property: Retain ownership of their challenge submissions
  • Transparency: Know the time expected for challenges upfront
  • Feedback: Receive constructive feedback on their performance
  • Report Issues: Flag inappropriate or exploitative challenges

4. Challenge Review Process

Before publication, all challenges undergo review to ensure:

  • Reasonable scope and time requirements
  • Generic nature (not company-specific work)
  • Clear evaluation criteria
  • Compliance with anti-exploitation standards

5. Enforcement

Violations of this policy may result in:

  • Challenge removal
  • Account suspension or termination
  • Refund of fees paid by the company
  • Public disclosure of violation (in severe cases)

6. Compensation Philosophy

While challenge completion is unpaid (similar to traditional interviews), we ensure:

  • Time investment is minimized and reasonable
  • Candidates gain exposure to real companies
  • Top performers get interview opportunities
  • The process is far shorter than traditional job searches

7. Intellectual Property Protection

All candidate submissions are protected:

  • Candidates retain full IP rights to their work
  • Companies can view for evaluation purposes only
  • No commercial use without explicit written agreement and compensation
  • Submissions are automatically deleted after 90 days (unless hired)

8. Reporting Violations

🚨 Seen something concerning?

If you believe a challenge violates this policy or you've experienced exploitation, please report it immediately:

Email: report@sparc.app

All reports are reviewed within 24 hours. Your identity will be kept confidential.

9. Continuous Improvement

We regularly review and update this policy based on:

  • Candidate and company feedback
  • Industry best practices
  • Legal and ethical standards
  • Community input

Our Promise

"We will never compromise on candidate protection. Skills-based hiring should empower candidates, not exploit them."

— The Sparc Team