That’s sounds like they trying to get free work! Good for you for speaking up!

Update: Had multiple candidates reach out to me that they had this EXACT experience where they were led on about this interview process, then hit with this extensive take home challenge. Given these times, with 1000s of people applying for an opening, I can only imagine how many other people went through this. I feel compelled to reveal the company is Eight Sleep.

@YesiDanderfer

2 ай бұрын

Louder for those in the back! I've seen a couple of your videos but this one in particular made me a subscriber. Unfortunately I'm on the same boat job-hunting, agree that this is the toughest I've ever seen the industry at, and…I've unfortunately done so many of these take home exercises without any compensation back in my mid twenties for big brand-names (either agencies or companies). I think it's good that we as designer understand the value we bring to the table and without losing our humbleness ask for more human centric interviewing process. I believe nowadays that process is broken, especially for tech, and if not the candidates then who will tell companies that we no longer will play such a dehumanizing game? Best of luck with the job hunt and hope to see more of your content soon!

@Designalily

2 ай бұрын

Thank you!! Portfolio presentations should render unpaid take-home challenges completley unnecessary. @@YesiDanderfer

@ultraricx

2 ай бұрын

it's also a trend here in SEA :(( they ask you to upload a recording of yourself for 15 mins explaining your experience and process but only through web cam. crazy. could've been included in an interview call if they thoroughly viewed your portfolio and CV. they also make you take a 100 question personality test. tough out there.

You should all 100% reject this type of abusive free work. The last time I rejected a challenge, I did it in a way that created more interest on behalf of the hiring party and we actually kept conversations going.

@Designalily

4 ай бұрын

Mind sharing with us how you navigated that?

19 years as a designer. I definitely would not do the take home challenge. I'm glad you called them out on linkedin as well.

The math is not mathing 😂👏 To add a bit more, I never did a challenge that took me longer than 4 hours. Thanks for the video!

@Designalily

5 ай бұрын

For real! Few hours should mean MAX 4 hours in my opinion, and even 4 hours is half a work day.

Every design exercise should be PAID, and before even starting on it, the company must sign an agreement that your work will not be used and if used you should be compensated HEAVILY!!!

Thank you for sharing! I recently received an assignment with a brief asking for a redesign of their existing app with a focus on onboarding, profile and settings. In addition to this they requested user stories for developers and service design implementation, how this app will be used in multiple settings when a service is provided. The brief seemed crafted by someone who does not seem to understand the role of a product designer. It took me 5 hours to complete the project. I got a boiler plate rejection. When I asked for feedback, they said they were busy. I waited a month and asked again. This is when they disclosed that they received 700 applications and 90 project submissions! So it's too much work to find the reasons for rejection. 90 free ideas X 5+ hours each! How can an entire team think this is acceptable. We really need to stop this practice. I will for sure.

@Designalily

5 ай бұрын

Yep, with 1000s of people applying for jobs now, they could get so much free work

Interviewed for a SF photo startup who had an 8 step interview process which bloated into 10 ……with the final one being unscheduled. the product design director texted me on my personal cell to ask if I could talk quickly and then grilled me with a pop up interview (after I already finished the original final interview w the CEO) Also their take home exercise was uncompensated and was adding a new app feature they were trying to solve- which seemed very likely to be used. Finally the interview process which was supposed to have happened in 2 weeks ended up stretching into 4 months That experience actually traumatized me for the good part of last year cuz they kept moving the goalpost every time I was at the finish line

Same. Went through the wringer recently for an interview. Multiple rounds and last minute changes to their interview process. Was given a brief to integrate their existing design, given fonts, asked to create components and provide a fully fleshed out design. I asked to do wireframes but their response was they wanted to make sure I knew how to use design systems and to even elevate what they had already established. I begrudgingly accepted since I was desperate (bills to pay, family to feed). 4 months later role still open, probably saw how much free work they could get. Company is Writer AI. Avoid them.

Im glad you stood up to this company’s behavior and requests. I had a previous experience where it took so much time to complete the challenge. I then presented my work and was denied the position. Only to find out that they used some of my designs in their new application.

Thank you for sharing this, Lily. I have had similar experiences in the past, and I felt bad about withdrawing my application, as if I am some kind of snob. But I certainly feel that we should take a stand as a community against such almost 'extortion' like behaviour. Thank you for voicing this, and I hope more designers feel confident to say no.

@whydeemos

5 ай бұрын

The way to not feel bad about withdrawing your application is to choose not to be judgmental about their process. What’s causing you stress isn’t the fact they asked for a take home, it’s your judgment of them for it and the sense of “unfairness” that evokes. Let go of the judgment. Own the fact that it’s not a culture or environment that is right for you, recognize you may be walking away from an otherwise interesting team and opportunity, but that finding a team that shares your values is important for you to feel valued and fulfilled at work. Own the decision as your own, not as a reaction to them but a response to your values. Walk away without judgment. You’ll feel better, and will make better decisions too.

@aalokj

5 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing this prespective @@whydeemos

Absolutely agree, this promotes the incidents when companies that don't want to pay for labor run fake "challenges" to do pieces of work for them. And since there are a lot of candidates it turned out to be like a free upwork for them

I had this kind of experience with a company, they paid me 50% of what we did agree with. I immediately reject each assignment if it takes more than 2 hours. I remembered a startup wanted me to help them redesign their app and they said that it will help me more in appearance, I rejected them of course because still now I don't understand what they are saying 😂

@Designalily

5 ай бұрын

The creative use of logic is something else! Glad you didn't settle for that bait and switch.

@mounirelogbani

5 ай бұрын

@@Designalily They didn't know that they play with the wrong guy. Since I'm working as a freelance product designer many times. There are many situations like this, like they will pay me all the payment until I finish the work and many red flags.

I have been receiving so much of this kind of challenge. It’s really unacceptable. Good job on turning they done.

Sharing a few experience regarding this. I went through the same exact scenario where they said it should only take 2-3 hours, but when they said entire process and UI , I knew It was going to be a lot of work lol. Did the challenge, got the the job with a Junior salary, while I am a senior. Companies understand the market is tough. I also went through another interview process where they made me do a challenge of an existing problem in the app. They said it should take max 8 hours. It took me 10, and I was moved to the final stage. However with this interview, the manager had courtesy to be honest about the challenge being a real business problem, and also saying that whoever gets hired will get $1,000 for the challenge.

+1 for banning design challenges and saying no to these. The onlly expection would be it's not their product and they compensate for the challenge. Otherwise, you know once you start working for such a company their expectations would still be unrealistic if they chose to hire a person instead of just straight up using/exploiting thier work.

Really glad that someone called these guys out. Also, I was reading through the email you shared and agree that it's quite unusual (& also very unprofessional) to work with the recruiter who calls a candidate randomly without scheduling time with the candidate.

@Designalily

3 ай бұрын

and the worst part is, they did this same process and treatment (calling at random times) to all the other candidates (who reached out to me via DM)

omg I have met similar situations a lot of times. One company asked me to do a take-home challenge for 1 week without even giving me an interview or call. One recruiter always called me without scheduling. One time the recruiter scheduled at 3:30pm, but at 2:50pm she emailed 'I will call you soon', then she called me directly in 1 min. 😭

This is ridiculous. I know to avoid Oura now LOL. There was a previous time when I interviewed for a game company and they wanted me to do a take home challenge related to their product and I said no. Unpaid take homes are not okay in my book, and honestly companies that do take homes for more senior levels are an automatic no in my book - who has the time for that? I can understand if a junior level without much experience is applying and they just want to do a slight skill assessment but I've come to the point where I think a portfolio presentation of some sort and maaaaaybe a whiteboard challenge is enough. These interview processes are getting to the point of dragging out it's just too much. I chose my current company partially because I really like their recruiting process - screen, hiring manager portfolio review, then all day panel and that was it.

@Designalily

5 ай бұрын

It's not Oura, Oura was used as an example by them as a new "ring" product.

Thanks for speaking up, Lily! ✊🏼💥

Would love to see an ICL Update on how things are going now! Especially with the issues with Halo/ Lights etc

Completely agree. It's a lot of free labor, and even if you do well you're unlinkely to get the job with all the other competitions. Another senior designer like myself with 10 years of experience. I would of withdrew myself from the interview process like yourself. Waste of time, energy and no compensation.

I would make them sign an NDA for the exercise you are providing, and a compensation structure if they choose to use your work without hiring you. Have them sign this and then maybe proceed.

At the end, this company will have a new product and design system without any designer in company. 😅

thank you and f*ck Eight Sleep :)

I have done a couple of home assignments, I even did a live assignment (30 min to design 3 screens with a logic on zoom, the interviewer camera was off, not talking, no collaboration). Only once, I have been hired from the challenge and the challenge was not relative to the business, given by a design team. When you have 30 min to 1 or 2 hours to design something the team learnt in about 1 or 2 years, that's not fair. The most common situation is a test given by a product manager because there is no designer yet and so they won't be capable of judging what is a good design, but they know what could be a good product idea from your design. Conclusion: I don't do home assignment (and you should not too, it leads to nowhere most often), I ask what they expect to understand that is not showed in my portfolio.

You may be able to measure the hands-on work for this in hours, but the time needed to study, ideate, iterate, polish and deliver is definitely days of work. What they’re signaling with asking for this takehome and categorizing this as “a few hours” is that they don’t value the thinking work in the role, and measure the worth of their designers specifically on practical, tactical delivery work. Is that the type of environment you’d want to work at? Are you going to do your best work there? I know it’s heartbreaking when you’re excited about the brand, the mission, etc., but I’d feel pretty good about just walking away from the opportunity.

Thank you for your courage. Accepting such an unethical request can lead to a lack of respect for the talent and effort that goes into the task.

N A M E A N D S H A M E 👏👏👏👏

@Designalily

5 ай бұрын

clues spread in the video, another candidate already reached out to me 👀

i saw your post on linkedin? or reddit? i literally had something similar happen to me recently as well

Yeah, that's lame. -FAANG designer

I don't do free assignment either. Would love to see how they respond to your last email lol

@Designalily

5 ай бұрын

They didn't. They probably knew this wasn't right.

I got something similar from Avery Dennison couple years ago. My answer was similar to yours and did not continue. It’s insulting and obviously aimed at getting free work.

I received couple design challenges, but not in that kind of level (probably I'm applying for junior position). Yet that seems to be a lot and take away your times doing something else, like, looking for a better company treating you properly lol

"It seems that more and more companies are requiring this." First, no they're not. Many are reducing the complexity of the design challenge or turning it into a 1 hour live challenge. Second, that is a horrible reason to require it!

@Designalily

5 ай бұрын

Right? Even Google and LinkedIn removed their take home challenges. They historically had them for years.

That's a waste of time for the candiate and the company. If you speak to to product managers and designers who started at the end of 2010s, the interview process was 2 interviews max based on your portfolio and how easy you were to work with.

Name the company

@gaurangalat

5 ай бұрын

EightSleep

The comment "seen an increase in take home prices" is the real estate equivalent of "it's the asking price for the area." ;)

@Designalily

3 ай бұрын

same. energy.

10000000% would have done what you did. Well done. What they had asked for is a complete joke. They're trying to foretell the future and eliminate risk and only consider what will be the most beneficial for them as a business (Aka - All about MONEY) This doesn't consider the candidate, the person whose skills and experience they want, hence the job advertisement. Interview processes alone are not a good indication of someones full potential, and what they're doing - using up so much unpaid time - is dehumanising.

Not for free...

Just move on, being unemployed might be frustrating but continue to do your best. Supply v demand is a bit tilted now so u get to see some absurd lvl of entitlement from all these companies. BTW what's the company name 😂

Yeah that is straight sus....the whole linking to their design system....that's next level 🫠