This process moved quickly, which was welcomed. I was contacted by a recruiter who set up the interview with the hiring manager very quickly. Hiring manager was very welcoming and enthusiastic. There was also a panel interview and an extensive take-home-assignment and presentation. The assignment was to improve an existing app. All went well, I gave the presentation and answered questions from the team. When the rejection came, the feedback was that they'd wished I'd focused on XYZ for the presentation. 1) They didn't ask for XYZ in the assignment 2) No one asked me any follow-up questions about XYZ during the Q&A. This isn't confined to this company, but is really endemic in interview process when the economy is bad and people are desperate for jobs. The whole "we wanted them to have this thing, but the job isn't about this thing and we never once mentioned we wanted this thing at any point even when asked directly." Overall, the recruiter, hiring manager and anyone I came in contact with were really pleasant and very generous with their time. I just hate falling into the presentation trap.