I come from a traditional advertising background but have been looking to build some new muscle and work for a branding shop that's digital-focused and more executional than conceptual. I applied for the role online in June or July and received a reach out for an initial phone interview from a recruitment coordinator in August. I responded, and several weeks went by before further correspondence as the coordinator was on PTO. In mid-September, I had a phone call with the hiring manager, who passed my work on to the Group Strategy & Writing Director, who liked my work, and we had two 30-minute Zoom interviews in early October. The conversations were natural and robust, where we discussed my background, process, and philosophy on writing, and I got a great sense of the agency and what it would be like working for her. She asked me to complete an unpaid writing assignment that included headlines and explainer copy, new category concepts, strategy, home page copy, copy editing, grammar knowledge, and a couple of one-offs. The recruiter told me to spend "about an hour on it," but between research, concept, and craft, it took about 6+ hours. After that, I met with the Digital Experience Lead and Strategy Lead, both lovely, passionate, and intelligent. Overall, the interview process was pretty neutral and easy-going. Everyone I met was kind, thoughtful, and I would have liked to work with him/her/them. I had another offer on the table but was interested in the Red Antler role, so the recruiter organized final interviews within my requested time frame. My negative experience came from the fact that the process was slow, with weeks between the next steps—many of which I had to initiate first or follow up on. Ultimately, they didn't extend an offer, which is fine. But, the rationale was that I didn't have enough digital experience, which is disheartening, and I felt like 10+ hours of my time was wasted because they knew I lacked robust digital expertise from day one.