I recently applied for a UI/UX Designer position at Travelcircus, and my experience was disappointing. Instead of starting with an introductory call or interview to assess mutual fit, the company just sent me a test assignment as the first step in their hiring process. The assignment was a substantial task, requiring several hours of work of redesigning (!), providing high-fidelity prototypes (!!), and drafting detailed hypotheses (!!!). This was to be completed without any prior context (!!!!) about the company's team, culture, or processes, plus with a 1-week deadline. No, thanks. The whole company is one big red flag.