I applied for a Program Manager position even though I didn't have experience managing a customer support team – I made this clear on my CV. In spite of this, the global recruiter reached out to me and asked me to complete a test. The test was the most detailed and time-consuming assignment I have ever been asked to complete before an interview (and I have been through several recruiting processes that included take-home assignments). I basically had to answer all the common interview questions in addition to doing work that a Program Manager would do, such as analyze metrics and team performance and report on it, as well as write a series of difficult emails. This literally took me hours to complete. After submitting the assignment, I was invited to an interview with three people from HR. During the interview, they told me they were concerned about my lack of experience – I might have as many as 89 people reporting to me on this role, they said. They also said that my salary expectations – I wrote $ 30 USD/hour on my application – were unreal. They didn't even pay this hourly rate to people in the US, they said. I was confused – if they thought my experience was insufficient and my salary expectations were unrealistic, why did they ask me to complete that soul-crushing assignment and then invite me to an interview? Things got even more confusing after. First, they sent me a rejection email. Then, they sent me a new email saying, "after re-checking your application we decided we would like to give you another chance to be interviewed." I didn't reply, as the experience gave me an impression of PartnerHero as exploitative, unprofessional, and disorganized.