I applied for the Snr UX Designer role because it seemed interesting, and the job description explicitly stated that prior experience in a similar domain was not required. The process started with a screening call, which went smoothly. Next, a 4-hour design task followed where I was asked to design a few SaaS interfaces while using their incomplete design style guide, which lacked sufficient detail. For a 4-hour task, the requirements were rather intensive (and that was not ok). After submitting the task, I presented it to a team of interviewers. Shortly after, I was invited for another interview with the same group. This time, the focus shifted to job-specific questions that only candidates with exact, relevant experience could confidently answer. While I drew on knowledge from other domains, it became evident that this wasn’t sufficient to meet their expectations. The interview process felt unnecessarily stressful and disjointed. It became clear that the company was looking for someone with highly specific experience, contrary to what the job posting suggested. Additionally, the order of the interview stages seemed counterproductive. Instead of assigning the design task upfront, it would have been more logical to conduct an initial interview to evaluate alignment in terms of chemistry, experience, and skills before investing time and effort into a design task. Overall, the process suggested that the company lacks experience interviewing designers (hence, poor design maturity). A more structured and thoughtful approach would not only save candidates’ time but also reflect better on the company.