[saulpw]

Do they get to pair with your team on the take-home or are they doing it solo?

I'm not happy working by myself on features/bugs in a codebase that no one will ever. It's meaningless work. If that's the job you're offering, then you're right, great signal.

But I imagine at your company that you work together on a codebase that people are using. That the requirements and bug reports are coming from actual users if not customers. If so, then you may be discarding some good talent who might be better for your company. The ones who will push back on bullshit work because they can see it's not doing anything for anyone.