I had a really lovely initial chat with a couple people that I thought went really well. High salary, very transparent with it from the get go, seemed really positive.
I then got told I had got through to the second stage of the process, in which I got given a task that would have taken me more than one full working day to complete to a high standard. I questioned this in which the recruiter clearly got flustered and gave me a bunch of non-answers to the questions I asked.
I withdrew myself from the process because I fundamentally disagree with working that much for free when I was interviewing for a mid-level position in which I shouldn’t have to prove myself that much that I’m capable.
Turns out a few weeks later the ‘scenario’ I was given was for a client they had just won, and they very likely would have taken my *full* press plan (including press release, targets, written pitches) and used it as their own had I not got the job. Disgraceful.
I’m not against completing a small task (a couple hours, give or take) but not when it’s obvious the work is going to be used. Glad I trusted my gut on this one.