This was honestly the most UNPROFESSIONAL experience I've ever had professionally. Firstly, I was recruited off LinkedIn, had an initial screening with a recruiter who seemed frazzled and disorganized. She told me the next step was to apply for the role and IF the hiring manager liked me, they would reach back out. I never had a chance to apply because 90 mins later, she sent me an email stating she "hoped I had been well since we last chatted and that she had great news that the hiring manager wanted to speak to me." I honestly thought she has mistakenly emailed me it was so off base from what she had 90 mins ago explained. Then I spoke with the hiring manager at the end of a long work week. It was a great conversation and I left feeling interested in the role. 5 minutes after getting off the phone, I received an email from the recruiter stating "I had made it to the next round which would be a challenge" and would need to complete a strategic plan for the company in the next 72 hours. This was sent to me for an employee engagement role - on a Friday at 6:30pm, what does that say about the culture of this company? To me it says, we expect you to work on this all weekend long or at least cloud your weekend with plans for it. While I understand "challenges" are semi-common practice these days, there was no explanation of how my Intellectual Property would be treated should I not move forward in the process - which to me is unscrupulous and free labor. Again, a terrible impression of the company values and culture. I completed the challenge and again was told I had moved to the next and final round, the in-person interviews which would stretch 6 hours. This to me is excessive and I was scheduled to meet with random people who had nothing to do with my role there - it felt as though they were just filling time. Either way, I never made it to the in-person round because at the call the recruiter had scheduled to "prep me for the interviews," she promptly notified me that the role had been filled. Generally, you interview all candidates before making that kind of decision but I guess Cruise's culture and integrity don't abide by those sort of cultural and professional norms. I'm so thankful my time wasn't wasted and even more thankful I don't work for a company that lacks integrity like Cruise.