I was initially excited about the role — until I received the interview assignment. The test involved creating a full strategic marketing presentation, including budgeting, daily forecast estimates, creative samples, and, most concerning of all, a request for out-of-the-box campaign ideas. To me, this seemed like an extremely detailed task for a hiring process, especially after only a ten-minute first interview — and knowing they’re likely asking multiple candidates to do the same. While assignments can be a useful way to evaluate how someone thinks, this particular case felt more like a request for fully formed strategies — and worse, your original ideas — which I personally found very strange at this stage. Of course, it’s up to each person to decide what they’re comfortable with, but in my opinion, it’s important to set boundaries and recognize the difference between testing someone’s thought process and asking them to develop full campaign plans that could easily be reused — even if they say it’s “for testing purposes only.” That’s not what it looks like based on the questions they’re asking. So to everyone out there: proceed with caution, this interview assignment raised red flags.