[malvosenior]

This will happen naturally during the negotation and interview process and it will look a lot more like "real work" than any trap, trick or quiz. Are they effectively writing emails as you have your back and forth? Do they ask good clarifying questions? What do they do with their contract once it's sent to them?

Actually getting someone in the door requires a lot of work on both sides of the table. It's a perfect and natural way to vet what it's like to work with someone.

[hunglee2]

You're right. Nothing beats actually working with someone to learn whether you want to work with someone. However there are inefficiencies in doing this, which is why assessments (which are all proxies for the work) are used.

I don't think it's unreasonable to use subtle testing like this. We likely do it anyway (i.e we make judgement calls when reviewing someone's online profile, portfolio etc) - all equally sub-optimal but we use it because we need a short cut