Step one was a basic phone screening — nothing out of the ordinary. Questions centered on my work experience and why I was interested in making a move. Step two was a take-home creative exercise, allotting me about a week to complete, and this is what merits criticism: The instruction I received from the recruiter via email stressed detail, creativity and critical thinking on this assignment — all of which I was happy to provide. For this reason I spent days working on it, to "stand out from the crowd" as the assignment advised, and I submitted my finished product the morning of its due date. Exactly one day later the recruiter informed me that the hiring managers had met with another candidate, decided moved forward with that person and would be closing the position. The rejection isn't what disappoints me; it's the fact that my work obviously never reached the eyes of a hiring manager. The speed at which I received this response, and the fact that someone else was on the verge of receiving an offer while I was in the middle of this extensive (and unpaid) project, is unacceptable. I understand that recruiters can't keep every candidate in lockstep, but given the unique depth and requirements of this evaluation, it would've been very easy to suspend the assignment until a decision was made on candidates further along in the process. More bluntly, I did a lot of work for nothing. And in a comforting sort of way, that tells me what it might've been like to work there.