The interview process seemed like it was going really well and the recruiter appeared to really like me and kept complimenting me on my portfolio. Later on I was asked to complete a design test. The design test required that within 2 days I create from scratch brand guidelines for an existing brand. The recruiter stated that it needs to be comprehensive enough that entire teams would be able to know exactly how to execute that brand after studying the guidelines. I gave it my best shot and spent all weekend day and night trying to create a comprehensive brand guidelines from the resources I was able to soak in from what I found on the internet of that brand. It wasn't even close to being complete or anything worthwhile to deliver. Two days for entire brand guidelines is outrageous, not to mention it was for an existing company -- red flags. I told them that I tried my very best and severely underestimated how realistic it was. I wanted the job very much. I expressed my concerns and opinions about the red flags. I also expressed that because of the red flags, I was no longer interested in going further. The recruiter replied with no empathy and simply stated that what I submitted was fine and that it would have passed well enough to take me to the next stage in the interview process. Very difficult to believe that -- my design test wasn't even 50% complete, yet the guidelines stated that it needed to be comprehensive enough to pass in reality. Something very fishy about all this.

The whole process was an awful waste of my time. I interviewed with the recruiter and was assigned an unpaid take-home test. I spent the next several days researching and crafting a thorough 19-page brand guidelines document and was hours away from submitting it when the recruiter emailed me, informing me they had hired another candidate while knowing I was still working on the assignment. This behavior is totally inconsiderate. At the very least, they should have allowed me to submit my work for review.