Generally speaking, this is a turn off for me, because I want to see proportional investment by the employer in the hiring process.
If I have to spend two hours doing made-up homework for you before you will even talk to me, I expect that you will then spend an equivalent amount of effort proving to me that your company is somewhere that I would like to work. If you are not willing to invest that amount of time, the whole point of the interview is to reach an arrangement wherein I give you time and you give me money, so you could pay me for those 2 hours instead.
While I don't necessarily walk away from interviews that turn me off, every warning flag does add to the minimum offer amount I would be willing to accept from the employer. If you don't treat me with professional courtesy and respect during the interview, I am silently adding numbers in my head. If you act like I am the one wasting your time, I am probably adding $20000/year to my salary expectations.
I would much rather moonlight for a few hours every week, while getting paid to do actual work, than spend even one hour doing a stupid toy homework problem that ends up being a great signal for the employer and a very poor one for me. It isn't a matter of whether the pay is significant for me, but whether the employer is making and demonstrating an effort to make the process an exchange between equals rather than a superior-inferior relationship.
If I have to spend two hours doing made-up homework for you before you will even talk to me, I expect that you will then spend an equivalent amount of effort proving to me that your company is somewhere that I would like to work. If you are not willing to invest that amount of time, the whole point of the interview is to reach an arrangement wherein I give you time and you give me money, so you could pay me for those 2 hours instead.
While I don't necessarily walk away from interviews that turn me off, every warning flag does add to the minimum offer amount I would be willing to accept from the employer. If you don't treat me with professional courtesy and respect during the interview, I am silently adding numbers in my head. If you act like I am the one wasting your time, I am probably adding $20000/year to my salary expectations.
I would much rather moonlight for a few hours every week, while getting paid to do actual work, than spend even one hour doing a stupid toy homework problem that ends up being a great signal for the employer and a very poor one for me. It isn't a matter of whether the pay is significant for me, but whether the employer is making and demonstrating an effort to make the process an exchange between equals rather than a superior-inferior relationship.