I was shocked by the unprofessional and uncommunicative manor in which such a major organization conducted itself during this process. There were several rounds of interviews, and an extensive assignment that I was told would be paid. One interviewer had screaming children in the room with him while the interview was happening and his camera off the whole time. After the last round of interviews, I was told it was down to two candidates and then ghosted (after giving them 20+ hours of my time at this point) for weeks. They even accidentally sent me the name of the other candidate. I followed up several times and was eventually told they were hiring internally instead, after months of waiting. I was also never paid for my work on the assignment, even after sending an invoice and following up multiple times. I deeply respect NPR's work and was excited for the opportunity to work with their team, but this was an unbelievable way to treat a candidate and fellow human being.