don_lorenzo88's journey

I recently went through a lengthy interview process for a marketing coordinator position at a mid-sized company. After three interviews, where everything seemed promising and the salary was decent, I was asked to complete a final assignment. They wanted me to create a comprehensive 30-day marketing strategy for one of their actual products, which included campaign ideas, a content calendar, target audiences, suggested ad copy, budget allocation, and website improvement recommendations. They mentioned it should only take a few hours, but it ended up consuming my entire weekend. I presented my plan during a video call with four team members, and they asked detailed questions about implementation and expected results. The hiring manager expressed that they were extremely impressed and assured me I would hear back within two days. However, a week went by with no communication, so I followed up with both the recruiter and the hiring manager, but received no response. Two weeks later, I noticed the company had started using two of my campaign ideas, including a headline that was nearly identical to what I had crafted. The job listing is still active, and I never received any rejection notice. I feel foolish for providing them with so much free work, especially since the entire process felt like I was the final candidate. Moving forward, I’ve decided that I am only willing to complete short sample assignments and will never again create an entire strategy for free.