Is it legal/ethical to make applicant pay to get interview? (applying, employer)

[P-I-P]

I live in California and have been looking for work. Got an email from what appears to be a perspective employer although I do not have a record of applying for the job. Which in itself is not all that unusual. Many employers get my resume off of sites.

The email said they were interested in me and in order to take this process to the next level I needed to take an assessment test to detemine my skill sets. No problem!

In the email there was a link to to their webpage which described the job and then said I needed to download a study guide before taking the test.

The link to the study guide led to a clickbank page of an ebook that costs $18.50.

How bogus is it to make someone pay for a book in order to get an interview for a job.

Is this even legal?

[move4ward]

It's a scam designed to take advantage of the desperate with no job. No employer will require interviewees to buy an e-book, not even a publishing company.

I have never heard of anybody getting a job, after buying an e-book. Think about it.

[LarsMac]

There may not be an actual law against what they are doing, but, they are probably crooks.

[mskamelot]

Sounds like scam.

[davenj08]

I have had to take assessment tests early in career but they were always paid by the employer. I would assume it should still be the same.

Check if the employer in question is in anyway related to the company that designs/implements the assessment test. That should give you a clue to your answer.

[HeyHowdy]

No

[Kineticity]

It's a scam. Don't spend your money.

[Thatsright19]

Hit the parachute. It's a trap.

[MJ7]

scam.

[I_Like_Spam]

In this case, it looks like a scamola.