The whole experience felt chaotic and frustrating. First, I was rejected after stage 2, only to be contacted later and asked to re-enter the process. While I appreciated the opportunity to continue, it created confusion about how structured the hiring process actually is. Second, the case study felt excessive and unusually specific. I was asked to solve what appeared to be a real, live business problem the company is facing — specifically how HelloFresh could compete with Gousto’s offering of 100+ recipes. Candidates were expected to develop a fairly detailed solution. After presenting once, I was then asked to present the same case again as if to the CEO, with the goal of “convincing them” to see my “stakeholder management skills”. This felt unusual given that the exercise had already been completed and the team in question had not managed to convince the CEO of this. Ultimately I was rejected again after the second presentation. Case studies can be useful in interviews, but this one felt more like consulting on a real problem than an assessment exercise. Combined with the back-and-forth in the process, the experience came across as disorganised and unnecessarily demanding for candidates.