A number of years ago I was on a casual job search -- I had a decent job but was looking for something more interesting that could launch my career in a different direction.
I had a number of conversations and phone interviews with quite a few companies, but one company in particular was very interesting. The pay was good, the benefits were good, but most importantly there was a lot of upward mobility. Perfect. So when they asked for 3 follow up interviews after the initial phone screen I didn't think much of it.
But after those interviews they asked me to talk to a couple more people Then another person, and he didn't seem to have any idea that I had already spoken with 6 people before him and wasn't sure what position I was interviewing for. Then another interview, and then another. It was starting to get awkward because for two straight week I was having to find opportunities to duck out of work to take a 30-60 minute phone call just to turn around and do it again the next day.
Two weeks turned into three and the total number of interviews went up to 12, then I didn't hear from them for a couple days. So after enjoying the peace and quiet for a moment I reached back out to the recruiter who told me they were ready to put an offer in writing to me but they had one last request.
They asked me to put together a 1-hour presentation on the solution to a problem they were facing and fly to meet up with some executives at a corporate retreat to give my presentation. I was promised that I would get my job offer there, in person. Of course I wasn't offered any compensation for my time, although they did offer to pay for the economy airfare.
Needless to say I declined to do the presentation and continued my job search elsewhere.
