I received the interview invitation on a Sunday and ended up having the interview on December 31st. At the time, all my family and friends were telling me this was a big red flag — and unfortunately, they were right. The interview itself went well. The recruiter was polite, and the conversation felt professional and smooth. After the interview, I was asked to complete a case study that required a significant time investment. The deadline was set for a Friday (January 2nd), despite the interview taking place on December 31st, and there was no consideration to extend it through the weekend. Given the holiday period, this felt completely unreasonable. More importantly, requesting a case study — which demands a considerable amount of time and effort — and then rejecting a candidate for reasons unrelated to the case itself is simply unfair and a very poor practice. If a company asks for that level of commitment, the case study should be the only evaluation criterion at that stage. After submitting the case, I did not receive any confirmation of receipt, which felt disrespectful considering the amount of time and effort invested. Almost two weeks later, I received the rejection email — on a Saturday. Either their system is poorly configured and sends automated emails during weekends, or the recruiter is actually working on weekends. In both cases, for anyone who sees this as a sign that people in the company might be constantly overwhelmed: just run. After receiving the rejection, I explicitly requested feedback to understand whether there was an issue with my case study or if the decision was based on other factors. I never received a response.