What I wish was different
DO NOT DO ANY FREE CREATIVE WORK FOR THIS COMPANY.
I applied to this position and got an interview about a week later. It was very easy, as I could speak to the job tasks well. The HR representative set up an interview with the lead creative and myself for that same day. I only got good feedback from the team. Two days later, I had an interview with two other people that also went well.
They asked me to do a small design task and not to spend a lot time of on it. I had two days to complete it. After a few days, they let me know that they were still interview other people and they "might need another design task" from me and wished I spent "more time on it."
After about a week, I was told that they no longer needed anything from me, but after another few days, I was told that they actually added something that they wanted me to do.
Upon looking at the new task, I noticed that they CHANGED the old task for new candidates and shortened what the other candidates needed to do. Essentially, what I handed in was different than what others were going to hand in and they had different goals in mind. They also added a new animation portion.
I spoke with the HR representative about why I felt it was unfair and that I could send more samples of my work, which they agreed to because I made valid points. However, a few days later they told me that it "wasn't working" because they didn't know how I would perform on the team and couldn't compare me to other candidates.
I was then tasked with speaking with creatives and getting feedback from them to see how I would respond to feedback and changing my work. The HR representative made it seem like I was just going to incorporate feedback in my old design task but it turned out that they wanted me to incorporate feedback AND do an additional animation that I previously refused to do.
I had to do all this during the New Year's weekend so that they could pick a candidate! Yet, when I handed in my assignment, I did not hear back for at least two weeks! I even sent a presentation describing my process. After over two weeks, I got a response from HR saying that they chose the "other candidate" because of "better animation skills," yet they reposted the job application.
The whole time, I had a feeling that the team was not transparent about their process and did not care for their candidates. I should have realized this and not carried on with the process the moment they asked for spec work and showed that they were not treating every candidate the same.
For a short term contract position (especially) there is no need for an employer to ask for so much free work and take up so much for your time, especially for the poor pay rate being offered upon taking on the job.
I would suggest Goodfuse to stop taking advantage of creatives especially in a climate today where we are in the middle of a pandemic. Creatives are in need of jobs and there is no need to waste our time. It is so disrespectful to put me and others through a process where you don't know what you're looking for, are changing the tasks for candidates in the process, and are not interested in hiring those putting in the effort to be a part of your team.
This was the worst interview experience I've had. Overall, I would never apply to this company again or recommend it to anyone else.
