As a pre-interview requirement, I was asked to copy-edit documents not once, but twice, based on style guidelines. These were going to be “graded”, but I never received any feedback, constructive or otherwise. Each one took me a couple of hours at least. I followed up to be told by the recruiter that they had decided on another candidate and my “ writing evaluation was not the best if you would like to retry”. So I moved on. Months later, I get a call asking if I would like to talk to someone. This time they directly set up an interview. I find out during the interview that the person they had previously hired left the job after 2 months. For context, I have a Master’s degree in Chemistry and have authored several publications in peer reviewed research journals. The interviewer verified that I had, in fact published. This was a hybrid position with low pay (50K). The only attraction for me was that the job was semi-remote. I was asked a bunch of what the interviewer called “Human resource” questions.

I applied online through a university-established hiring portal. I then took a phone interview/screening, more of a "getting to know you/making sure you understand the requirements of the position and are still interested." This then progressed to an in-person interview. The entire process was timely, from applying online to getting the job; I would estimate within 1-2 weeks.