unpaid-take-home on recruitment still sucks https://recruitmentstill.sucks/tags/unpaid-take-home/ Recent content in unpaid-take-home on recruitment still sucks Hugo en-gb Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 They rejected her, then posted her video https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/they-rejected-her-then-posted-her-video/ Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/they-rejected-her-then-posted-her-video/ The assessment asked for an original video shot in-store. She was rejected on the first of May. Then she saw it on the company’s own account. Four rounds, five weeks, silence https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/four-rounds-five-weeks-silence/ Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/four-rounds-five-weeks-silence/ Every stage professional, every signal positive. Then nothing. Ten hours for a four-hour task, then nothing https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/ten-hours-for-a-four-hour-task/ Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/ten-hours-for-a-four-hour-task/ Told it would take about four hours. It took ten, across two days. Then two weeks of the silence they’d asked him to wait through — and more after that. The company that said it pays candidates, and didn't https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/the-company-that-said-it-pays/ Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/the-company-that-said-it-pays/ Fifteen-odd requirements sold as a couple of hours, which took days — from an employer that had publicly stated it pays for every stage regardless of outcome. A plan they could implement without hiring him https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/a-plan-they-could-implement-without-hiring-him/ Fri, 23 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/a-plan-they-could-implement-without-hiring-him/ Six or seven hours of unpaid work producing a full performance-improvement plan — code review, staff conversations, engineering changes. He capped it at two hours, as instructed https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/two-hours-as-instructed/ Fri, 23 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/two-hours-as-instructed/ The brief said spend no more than two hours. He spent two hours, flagged what he’d left out, and was rejected for leaving it out. Three hours, six endpoints, and a frontend from scratch https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/three-hours-six-endpoints/ Fri, 23 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://recruitmentstill.sucks/stories/three-hours-six-endpoints/ A recruiter sent a zip file with a three-hour budget for work that could not be done in three hours. He worked out what the exercise was really measuring.