Internal recruiter emailed me with interest. She set up a call with hiring manager. No preliminary screening.
The manager called me as she was walking to work. During the entire call I could hear her huffing, cars honking, doors opening. It was distracting for both of us and she could barely follow the conversation.
She also didn't seem to be at all familiar with my resume or my portfolio. She had very few questions for me so I tried to tell her what I thought she'd need to know in order to make the decision to move me on to the next step. When I asked how much of the role would be hands-on design she said it was 100% management. Then almost in the next breath, she ask me to take a design test.
When I contacted the recruiter after the call, I said I'd be willing to do a design test *after* I'd met the hiring team in person and was sure that this role was a good fit for me. Design tests take a tremendous amount of time and effort and with the red flags I'd seen already, I wasn't sure whether this was a company I'd want to work at.
The recruiter said the test was a screening and I couldn't move forward in the process unless I did it. I withdrew my application at that point. Designers have portfolios with well-conceived designs that they are practiced in walking people through. THAT is how you screen a designer. I'm not putting 10 hours of work into a design test for a management role because the hiring manager that can't spend 30 minutes focusing on an interview. SMH
