I've been contacted by a recruiter that fixed an appointment for me for an interview. The meeting lasted for 1 hour and 40 minutes and I met the project manager first and then two members of the creative team.
Two days after the recruiter contacted me again asking to complete a test for the company that took approximately two days to be completed. I sent the artwork back to the recruiter that re-sent it to the company and day after I was invited for a second meeting with the team as "they thought I did a good job with the brief", but after two hours from the receipt of the email i got a second email that said: "AppLearn have asked me to delay for the moment... as they are having another look at the role" with the promise to come back to me the day after.
After five days and a mail to the company [the Project Manager gave me her business card], that never replied, the recruiter came back to me saying: "it sounds like they have looked again at the tasks and responsibilities and feel it would now suit a more junior candidate with a lower salary", adding that he really hopes this doesn’t turn out to be a waste of my time.
I believe that before wasting people's time with tests and tasks a company need to be sure about the position they're looking to fill. It's ok not getting a job as you fail a skills test, but is unacceptable wasting two entire days and succeeding on the task just to discover that the company was not sure about what they were looking for.