I applied for a job opening with them online and received an email from the CEO to do the initial 30-minute phone screening. Since it's a small company, they didn't have an internal recruiter to handle the initial screening, which led to a rather unprofessional experience. The lack of proper planning and scheduling was evident from the start. The CEO simply mentioned that she would call me within 2-3 days, leaving me hanging without a set time. On the third day, I had to reach out via email to inquire about the timing, as I hadn't heard anything from them yet. The CEO responded, stating that she would call me over the weekend and would text me before doing so. Come Sunday night, I received a text stating that she would call me within 40 minutes. I acknowledged the message and waited patiently, but the call never came. That said, I followed up again, but received no response. Finally, after two hours waiting, the CEO abruptly called me for the initial screening. The actual screening went fine, but I found it unethical when she asked about my past salary, and she also mentioned that the job would require around 50 hours per week, which seemed quite demanding compared to a typical 9-5 role. Following the initial interview, she moved me to the next stage, which involved completing an unpaid project and submitting it within a few days. After submitting the project, I received feedback from her within a week, expressing that she liked it and wanted to proceed to the next step. This next step involved a paid one-day contract to assess my collaboration with her team and cultural fit. However, things took a turn for the worse during the contract work. It became evident that the entire team was unprepared to guide me through the process. They provided access to resources for doing the work, but the access itself wasn't functioning properly due to technical issues on their end, wasting precious time. The workload felt overwhelming as they constantly interrupted me with texts and invited me to abrupt video calls five times in a single day to provide updates on the project. It seemed like micromanagement, as they expected prompt replies every couple of hours while also pressuring me to complete multiple tasks by the end of the day. Obviously I could finish my work faster if they didn't bother me from time to time with all the texts and video calls. It felt unfair to be judged on productivity while being repeatedly interrupted throughout the process. Their constant check-ins every couple of hours gave the impression of a micromanagement and unprofessional work environment. At the end of the one-day contract, they mentioned that they would inform me of their decision within a week. To their credit, I received payment for the day's work promptly, which was a positive aspect of the experience. However, a week later, I received an email stating that they had moved forward with another candidate. To be honest, I was relieved not to be selected because the entire interview process revealed their company's lack of organization and professionalism. Adding to the confusion, I noticed they reposted the same job opening a week later, suggesting that they hadn't actually moved forward with any candidate at all.