I initially applied for the position on LinkedIn and within a week I received a voicemail inviting me to a screening call to discuss the role in more detail. I spoke to the member of staff who was overseeing the recruitment process and the conversation went well. Later on in the day I was asked to the complete a written exercise and send it back as this was part of the recruitment process. A couple of days later I was invited to a group interview with other members of the team towards the end of the week where I spoke through my experience, answered questions and generally got a feel for the company. The group call was nice and relaxed. After the group interview I received another email asking me to send over a piece of written work as they were finalising shortlisting and were hoping to make a decision towards the end of that week and so I sent over a piece of written work I had previously. Following on from not hearing anything after I submitted my work I sent an email to enquire about an update on my application. I swiftly received an email from the team member who was overseeing the recruitment process informing me that they were still in talks but would have an outcome by the end of the week and thank you for baring with them. A few hours later I received a missed call and so I rang the number back, the call came from the member of staff who was overseeing the recruiting process. They proceeded to tell me I had not been success at this stage and that the role was given to another candidate. The person then went onto say, there was no negative feedback they could give me as I interviewed well, the team liked me, I understood the brief and that I was a talented writer. In addition to this they then went on to tell me I shouldn't feel bad and that it was between me and other candidate, the person also said I should go out and buy something nice for myself to cheer me up and then suggested the idea that if I wanted that, they were recruiting for a freelance position and it would be their way of maintaining contact with me if I took them up on their offer. Shortly after being told all of this I declined the offer and although the suggestion was good intentioned it all came across as condescending which was a shame.