In person, multiple phone calls with several employees, and research and a complex writing sample. This was such a waste of my time. I took time off to complete their task and they didn't even look at it.

I applied through a friend's referral, at a time when she told me the company really needed writers. About two weeks later, an HR person emailed me to set up a phone chat (I would be working remotely from a different city than the headquarters). That call lasted about an hour, covered a lot of ground and went well, with him telling me repeatedly that he liked my background and saw me as a great fit for this role and the next level up. He said he'd be in touch over the next two days to set up the phone interview with two content editors, and he was true to his word. The interview with the content editors also went well, with them diving into my vast journalism and marketing background and talking about specific projects (the ones on their plates as well as the ones I'd previously worked on). Again, they told me that they saw me as a fit, that they wanted to move quickly, and that the HR guy would be in touch by the end of the week with next steps. The HR guy did reach out, but he wanted to schedule yet another phone interview with two more content editors in a different discipline. Keep in mind that I was a full-time freelancer at the time and was doing these 60-90-minute-long phone interviews between appointments in my hot car with no A/C running so as not to make noise. But like the other interviews, this went well also. They told me that they had compared notes with the other editors, so they had different questions about my background and how I research/source stories. We wrapped up with them saying that the HR guy would be in touch within a couple of days and that I should get an offer within two weeks. The HR guy was *not* in touch within a couple of days. It was around a holiday weekend, though, so I let it go for another week before emailing him to get a status update. He wrote back and said things were still going through the project but everything should be settled within a few days. I waited. Waited more. Waited still. I checked in two weeks after I hadn't heard from him and got nothing. Same thing yet another week later. After three weeks, I wrote and told him that I was interested in the work and partnering with the editors I'd spoken with, but I had another job offer and would really appreciate an update (I was being truthful - I did have another offer in hand). I didn't hear back from the HR guy for two more weeks after that, just as I was getting ready to start my new job. "You may as well take it; I'm not sure if we're going to move forward with hiring anybody." SERIOUSLY? He couldn't have told me that weeks ago? What in the hell was the point of about ten weeks of conversations and promises? And why wouldn't you update someone who was a referral from a respected employee? Never again.