Responding to an Unethical Design Take Home Interview
I recently got a request to complete a take home test which was just one of many red flags. Some highlights just from the assignment:
- un-timeboxed
- asked for high fidelity work for the company (not an obviously fake/unrelated project)
- mobile/desktop responsive
- wanted a design AND prototype
- wanted all of the selection logic/taxonomy factored in (normally would be built in by engineering)
- no prior warning, assumed I had already scheduled a final interview (asked for test to be submitted 48 hours before interview)
- wanted an entire presentation to “showcase my delivery” skills in addition to all of the above
- recruiter was not the same as my initial one (relatively minor, though confusing) but all of them have different and somewhat unprofessional email signatures… this one had ASCII art. Yeah.
Obviously, this work is also all unpaid. How would you word a response to them? How direct should I be in listing reasons I won’t be doing this work (or should I just ask them if they’d pay me for it lol)? I don’t mind burning bridges, it’s a large company not known for tech that I was only interviewing with for practice, and I have much better other options.
TC: 125k
YOE: ~2.5
Edit: Response sent, will wait a few days to see if they respond before posting name and shame. If any of y’all are open to referring please let me know!
#uxdesigner #ui/ux #interviews #design
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