My first interview was with an HR Intern. She called me on the phone to introduced me to the company and to describe the recruitment process. I gave brief answers to her questions as she was in a hurry to tick all of her boxes. The call was no longer than 15 min. The most important question was about my salary expectations. She was pretty clear about it - if I say a number that's higher than their budget, that's the end of my application process. Wow. The job required relocation and it was hard for me to give a number in a new country. I said something that I had googled 5 min before the interview. Later on I realized that their offer is quite low on the median (30k EUR / yr in Berlin) My next interview was 3 weeks later (some vacation time on their end). I had a video call with my potential superior and it seemed to go well. She was pleasant, straight-forward and I got a very good impression about the general environment at the department. The next stage was a take-home assignment. I was given 3 days to complete it and upload to their website. Overall the tasks were reasonable, the brief was clear. It took me 3-4 h hours to complete. After submitting the assignment, I didn't hear back from them for a few weeks. I followed up with the HR person that sent me the assignment. I got forwarded to someone else. That someone else promised to check. I literally had to hunt down my own rejection. Zero feedback about me or my work. Just some computer generated 'thanks but no thanks'. The HR department left a bad taste in my mouth. There was a new person every. single. time! But the worst was the absolutely automated rejection that I had to hunt down myself. I get it. You're a unicorn that wants to appear bigger than you are. You're a big family where every janitor has an entrepreneurial spirit. You get a laptop that you're probably contractually obliged to brag about on LinkedIn. And there's some kombucha-type drink in your office fridge. But come on! Respect people's time and effort. Even if you choose to reject them.