Recruiter: We're looking for someone to fix the pipes.
(re-word their statement/question in your answer so there can be NO ambiguity)
You: I have lots of experience fixing many kinds of pipes, (including the EXACT SPECIFIC kind you asked for - WORD FOR WORD.)
(Notes on your replies, they didn't ask if you are a qualified plumber, they didn't ask what you were trained to do)
I interviewed at Google 3 times and I'm currently going through the interviews for the 4th time (a combination of bad interviewers and me being a total idiot), and this time I've stumbled across the nicest technical recruiter I've ever seen in 7yrs in the industry. She actively fought for me after a poor performance, and went above and beyond to accommodate me. And all my previous 3 recruiters at Google were extremely "professional-nice" and rather intelligent. In contrast, every single interaction I had with Facebook left a bad taste in my mouth (mostly getting rejected 2 times with a 5 line email, after being referred by Fb employees).
TL;DR stop enabling companies to be shitty
Companies have billions in the bank, make tens of billions profit each year, and have "staff" working who they don't pay a cent to.
The fact there are no laws against that is evil.
It is, in fact, illegal to not pay an intern in the state of California if the intern performs beneficial work.
Your entire rant is predicated on untrue assumptions.
I believe there is more to the US than just California, right?
Because those things still exist, just not doing employer-sponsored g work in for-profit firms.
> I believe there is more to the US than just California, right?
Yes, and unpaid interns doing work that directly benefits the employer is a violation of rules under the Fair Labor Standards Act in the whole US, not just California.
It's illegal in the whole US: https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm
Except that is not a fact, at least in the US.
Of course, depending on your objective: if your objective is to have at least the option of interviewing further for this company, it helps to remember the concept of Pyrrhic victories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory, i.e.: don't win the battle and lose the war.