Lol. If you think any of this is humble bragging, I feel bad for anyone who tries to have a conversation with you that contains opposing views. This is me doing nothing more than providing realistic insight into a different industry than OP was talking about that has similar hiring strategies, because this hiring strategy exists everywhere and it's goal is to weed out liars.

Until you draft the legislation to require staging/interview time to be paid and it gets signed into law, all of your energy dedicated to being upset at less than legal hiring practices is nothing more than a waste of time. You could be improving your earning potential, increasing your industry knowledge and get promoted, but you'd rather project insecurities about your lack of success in this thread than accept that maybe more of life is within your control than you admit and you're just lazy. Why do you expect everything, including jobs to just be handed to you without earning them? Filling out an application and having a decent work history is NOT earning the job, its earning the opportunity to be considered seriously.