[pmiller2]

I'm assuming you're referring to an un-timed homework assignment. Timed homework assignments are absolutely the devil and I don't think I'd do one of these.

My biggest issue with (un-timed) take home assignment is that often, as a candidate, this ends up with me investing a nontrivial amount of time, only to not hear anything back. If I'm going to spend multiple hours on something, I would kind of like something in return, such as feedback on my work. Very, very few companies will give any feedback since they don't want to be sued and/or have the candidate try to rebut the reasons why they were turned down.

[kybernetikos]

Yeah, it's untimed in the sense that we don't specify an elapsed time it must be done in. People have different things going on in their lives, and you can't just assume they can drop everything for your test. We specify a suggested amount of time so that people know not to spend too much time on it.

On the feedback point: this is a perfectly reasonable stance. Perhaps I should give better feedback to our candidates.

Part of my concern is that I've seen candidates show me emails from their recruiters that have attached all the detailed feedback I've give to their previous candidates.

The other thing is that at some points in the hiring, you're really competing against the others in the pipeline, so you might have actually performed very well, just not quite as well as one of the others. I have also seen one candidate fail based on multiple independent personal disrecommendations rather than on performing badly in the test.

I have noticed in previous interview processes that a lot of people think they failed for a reason other than the reason they actually did fail.

I do think it'd be more fair for me to give better and more detailed feedback, but there are a lot of pitfalls with the most obvious version of that. Perhaps there's room for a bit of disruption with a good solution to this problem.

[pmiller2]

Triplebyte does a fair job on the feedback front. I've been through their process recently, and found it to be more useful for me than any other company's process (I chose the coding project over the standard process). I dislike that they still put candidates on the spot by writing code literally in front of them[0], but the feedback I got from them was actually useful.

I think your issue with candidates showing you emails from their recruiters is actually an issue with recruiters more than your process. Recruiters will do just about anything they can to make the placement.

If you're in a situation where a candidate excels on the test but gets passed over in favor of someone who did even better, then, good for you. :) "We decided to go with another candidate at this time, but here's a little feedback on your coding project," would go a long way with me. If you're really feeling generous, a referral into another company would be a great thing.

Someone who fails because of personal disrecommendations, you can just give them a generic "We reviewed your coding project and here's what we thought of it... but we decided to go in a different direction. Best of luck on your search." (I'm assuming these people fail because they're assholes, not because they're incompetent, right?)

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[0]: Seriously, guys, if you're reading this... I chose the project interview because I fall apart when being put on the spot, and I told you that. I don't have someone watching over my shoulder at work... and it's a good thing, too, otherwise I'd end up having anxiety attacks.