Complete waste of time and very suspicious. I rarely write reviews, but I feel compelled to share my experience to prevent others from going through what I did with Butternut Box. The journey began when I applied for a position through a recruiter. After passing the initial stage, I was given a creative task without meeting the team—an unusual first step that raised a red flag. Despite the broad brief, I put considerable effort into the task, providing strategic direction, insights, and creative solutions. I even did a bit extra and focused on their new sister brand, Marro. While working on this task, I received a LinkedIn message from a Butternut Box recruiter about a different position (Maternity cover CD). Surprisingly, it was the same recruiter who had sent me the task for the Head of Creative (HOC) role. This led to confusion, as another recruiter I know had apparently suggested my name without realising I was already in the process. The direct message made it seem like the recruiter had found me independently, which felt unethical. This oversight was the second red flag. I progressed to an interview with the hiring manager and two team members. They were welcoming, and the hiring manager praised my task. She even mentioned that she showed the Marro team my idea for a TV ad and said ‘here you go, there’s your ad’’. I also found it odd that I didn't present the task—a common practice in creative interview processes. At this point, I learned I was being considered for both the HOC and CD maternity cover positions. I expressed a preference for the HOC role due to it being permanent. The next stage was an interview with the co-founder (in the office) and CCO, who also praised my task. Another week went by and the Butternut Box recruiter mentioned reopening the job ad "in case I wasn't offered the role or didn't accept it"—another red flag. Unexpectedly, I was then asked to meet the other co-founder in an additional interview. He was relaxed and complimentary but inappropriately asked about my age. At this stage, I thought I was one of two or three final candidates. After each stage, I waited a week for feedback. Later, I learned there were still several candidates in play for both roles, with ongoing screening interviews. Ultimately, I was rejected. The feedback was nonsensical, stating I was more suited to an in-house creative studio leader role rather than an agency—despite Butternut Box being an in-house brand. This contradictory feedback left me speechless and frustrated after such a lengthy process of 6 weeks. I've lost trust in this company. The fact that I completed an unpaid task and offered valuable ideas is concerning. Like previous reviewers on Glassdoor have mentioned, it seems they might use these tasks to gather ideas without compensation. I'll be vigilant to ensure my concepts aren't used without permission. This process revealed a lack of leadership and clarity about their needs. Having multiple candidates at the final stage suggests indecision about their requirements. Moreover, for a company of their size, separate HOC and CD roles seem redundant—they're essentially the same thing. This points to a lack of experience in how to structure creative functions. I strongly advise against applying to Butternut Box. It's a complete waste of time, and the company's actions contradict their outwardly kind and moral image. They give the impression of being ethical but behave quite differently behind the scenes.

I had an initial call with the internal recruiter, which felt more like a generic tick-box exercise. During the call, I was informed that there were already three candidates in the final stage of the interview process, but they still wanted to interview more candidates “just in case.” I found this a bit unusual, as having three candidates at the final stage is typically sufficient to make a decision. After the initial call, I was asked to complete a task. While this isn’t uncommon, I was surprised to be asked for a task before meeting anyone from the creative team to discuss the role and assess fit. In my experience, senior-level roles like Head of Creative usually focus on a candidate's portfolio and experience. Additionally, I was informed that the three previous candidates had been unsuccessful, which raised further concerns. The task itself felt quite generic and wasn’t granular enough to allow me to deliver anything truly meaningful. Despite these reservations, I completed the task within the requested 5-7 days. A few days later, I received an email stating that they wouldn’t be proceeding with my application as my task "didn’t fully meet the strategic goals outlined in the brief." Given the vague nature of the task and the lack of interaction beyond the recruiter, I wasn’t sure what more could have been expected. Overall, the process felt somewhat disjointed, and it seemed like the company might not have had much experience with recruiting for senior creative roles compared to others of a similar size in the industry.