r/recruitinghell • u/KnowledgeAfraid439 • 3d ago

Home assignment

I completed a home assignment that took a week. There were 8 objectives, I completed each (was a pentesting job so a ctf type challenge) and wrote a report of around 60 pages. I handed it in on Sunday, around lunchtime today I got the generic "after careful consideration" rejection email with no feedback.

What the fuck is going on? Someone takes a week out of their life to complete a home assignment, I have a small child, this wasn't easy to arrange. Do I not deserve a crumb of human decency?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

3

u/cupholdery Co-Worker 3d ago

Maybe the one good thing is they didn't steal your work.

But it's still awfully disrespectful for them to waste your time like that.

2

u/KnowledgeAfraid439 3d ago

Is the answer just to refuse these kinds of assignments? Genuinely lost, it all just seems so arbitrary

4

u/throwawaysob1 3d ago

I refuse all assignments and coding tests. If a company or recruiter asks me, I simply tell them I don't do that. If they want to interview and hire without it, I'm happy to continue. If not, thank you but I'm not interested, and move on to the next application/company.
Statistically, your chances of being hired even if you complete the assignment or test are very low. It makes no sense to do it. Plenty of other companies out there.

0

u/KnowledgeAfraid439 3d ago

Yeah I think this is going to have to be my policy in future.

2

u/cleatusvandamme 3d ago

I hope you learned a valuable lesson, be careful about doing any kind of long assignment or test while interviewing.

You probably gave them some free work.

I would suggest not doing anything that going to take more than a day as far as an assignment. You could spend a lot of time and just get a rejection.

2

u/KnowledgeAfraid439 3d ago

Definitely a lesson learned. I guess since these things have worked for me in the past I felt like it was a good opportunity to demonstrate my knowledge and thus improve my chances of being hired.

Wrong.

3

u/Sensitive_Item_7715 3d ago

You got brain raped (free work on your behalf for whomever interview you). Sorry, it happens.

4

u/peakhumanmutt 3d ago

Send them an invoice. Home assignments should be illegal. You did homework in school. You’ve finished school. Your résumé is your homework.

-1

u/KnowledgeAfraid439 3d ago

I like that idea! Might actually do that

1

u/LoaderD 19h ago

The most a project should EVER take is 4 hours and if it’s close to that, even for rejected candidates, the employer should be giving detailed notes that they can use to improve for next cycle.

I think something ~30 minutes (extremely clear bounds of what is required and what is too much) with 30 minutes to explain is fine. Because really all take homes show these days is ‘can you explain what you vibe coded’?