How should I handle being asked to do an assignment for an interview, but being rejected before review? [closed]

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I had a phone interview a couple weeks ago with an HR recruiter for a graphic design position. A week later had a face to face interview with the senior designer. After the interview, she said they were asking candidates to complete two design projects to test for skill and design style. She told me to take the weekend to complete the projects and return by Tuesday. I worked on both projects all weekend, putting in a huge amount of effort.

Woke up to an email Monday morning from the HR recruiter saying they chose a final candidate for the position. I sent an email back to both of them stating my disappointment and letting them know how much time I spent on the project to have it wasted in such a manner. It wasn't a mean email, just forthright and very expressive of disappointment about my time.

The HR recruiter wrote me back and said they made a mistake and there was miscommunication, and that they would review my work. Now I feel so ashamed that I wrote that email. It's confusing because they said they had a final candidate. Should I have handled it differently?

manpreet 2 years ago

I think if your e-mail was as described then you handled it fine - it's okay to express annoyance when someone, even a potential employer treats you badly and it doesn't sound like you have any reason to be ashamed.

In this case it sounds like there as a genuine miscommunication and that they shouldn't have sent that e-mail in the first place - the HR recruiter could easily be working to fill multiple positions across the company and there was a simple mix up. In which case you actually responding back rather that simply taking it as read and moving on likely brought such an error to light. If they really had a final candidate sorted then I would have expected you to get either no response or a "sorry for wasting your time but we've got our guy and that's that" type response.