I applied for a creative role at Ahead and was asked to complete a very intensive video editing task before even being offered an interview. The assignment required creating a full social media ad for the app, with directions to add advanced editing, animation, storytelling, integration of AI-generated assets, and motion graphics into the final product. In addition, I had to submit a detailed supporting document explaining my process and reasoning, as well as another document with links to inspirational references and short notes on why I liked each example. All of this was to be submitted within 7 days, which I managed to complete and deliver on time. Despite the significant amount of unpaid work involved, I never received any feedback, acknowledgment, or even a basic rejection email. For a company positioning itself as a mental health app, this experience felt very strange and not authentic to the values they claim to promote.