Shades News’ UX Internship: A Masterclass in Exploitation?

Have you seen that unpaid, remote UX internship role for the Gen Z-focused news app, Shades?

It's been on LinkedIn for over a month. It’s already attracted 1,500+ eager applicants. If you find it odd that they haven’t closed the posting after receiving so many applications, you're not alone.

Something smells fishy, and it’s not just the ocean of hopeful candidates drowning in a sea of misleading promises.

A Reddit user, throwaway932745, shared some eye-opening insights into what might really be going on: “Shades (a Gen Z-targeted news app) posted an unpaid, remote UX internship on LinkedIn four weeks ago. You might have seen it, it has 1,500+ applications. If you're thinking it's odd a job wouldn't close a posting if they've had it up for a month and have more applicants than they'll ever get through, with hundreds more coming in each day, that's because it is.”

It’s not just odd; it’s downright shady.

What's Going On?

The question lingering in the minds of many is: why hasn’t Shades pulled the posting after being flooded with applications? The answer might be in how Jeff Grimes, the co-founder, is handling the situation.

“Jeff Grimes (co-founder) is sending applicants the same copy-paste message making them think they beat out others, but it's extremely probable all 1,500+ people got/will get that message,” notes throwaway932745.

“It includes an interview form, which not only asks for ideas on where to find research participants, but also a detailed response of two things Shades could improve about their app. Literally mining free labour and ideas from thousands of people. Gross. And of course, they end the form by encouraging applicants to leave a 5-star review on the App Store.”

This form is no ordinary initial screening.

Is this a Trojan horse of sorts, using the guise of an application process to extract valuable insights and ideas from unsuspecting applicants?

Possible. But wait, it doesn’t stop there.

Gets Worse Though

“Gets worse though,” throwaway932745 continues.

“When you submit that form, you'll likely get an email/message from Jeff saying you were selected to move forward again. Which in this case means, you guessed it, another written form. The very first question on the form asks you to expand on the two ideas you previously shared and make them bigger and better.”

So, the trap deepens, asking for even more from these candidates without offering any clear path to an actual job.

“To add insult to injury, the form requires you to conduct an in-person interview with a stranger and take copious notes. The example notes given to follow were two pages long, and single-spaced. We're already far beyond what any paid job would ask of an applicant. But there's more, because why wouldn't there be.”

If the applicants endure all this, they might—just might—be invited to a video interview. However, based on experiences shared by others, many candidates are ghosted at this stage.

Throwaway932745 highlights this pattern: “If you completed all that, Jeff's email says you might get a video interview, but based on my experience plus three friends I shared the job posting with, plus recent anecdotal comments from Reddit users (if I remember correctly one had poor spelling and grammar, so the fact he got to round 3 among 1000+ applicants proves how much they really didn't give a f-ck), applicants are ghosted as soon as Shades gets what they wanted, a.k.a. stolen ideas and precious user insights.”

It’s heartbreaking to think of the hours applicants are pouring into these forms, crafting thoughtful, creative ideas for a company that might never have intended to hire them in the first place.

“There's no doubt people spent (and are still spending) several hours completing the forms and generating original ideas for these weasels,” says throwaway932745. “If all logic follows, Shades now has a lifetime supply of these forms full of information and ideas and never had to pay a cent. That's Exploitation with a capital E.”

What makes this situation particularly insidious is how it preys on young, eager professionals.

“The nastiest part is that Shades/Jeff (I don't know how many other people even work there to be quite honest, but it's small) are preying on 100s if not 1000s of people who are hopeful and really believe they have a shot at this job because Jeff keeps sending them to the next round. The knife cuts even deeper considering UX jobs are NOT easy to land, and I'm sure Shades knows that many of their applicants are trying insanely hard to make a career for themselves in UX.”

In an industry where landing a job often feels like winning the lottery, this kind of deception is not just unethical—it’s cruel.

Throwaway932745 pleads: “PLEASE, for the love of God, don't give this company free labour. I think they're all set with their new stockpile of material. And they'll need it because they don't have a drop of creativity or originality amongst them. That whole app is probably built on stolen ideas.”

The real kicker here is the unpaid internship itself.

“Oh, and here's a fun tidbit!” throwaway932745 says.

“The actual internship requires interviewing a MINIMUM of 80 people (no close friends or family) over 10 weeks, and taking detailed notes for each, of course. Living the (unpaid) dream!”

Sounds like Shades expects its interns to work harder than some full-time, paid employees—all while dangling the carrot of potential future employment that might never come.

TL;DR: “Shades News is allegedly shady, Jeff Grimes is allegedly grimy, and for the past month they've been using a UX intern posting to get free labour and creative work from applicants with no apparent intention of hiring,” concludes throwaway932745.

We've reached out to Shades to get their side of the story and will update accordingly.