Applied online, had a chat with a recruiter, then an interview with the hiring manager. I was given a short case study with about a week to complete it. The case study itself wasn't anything particularly difficult. I sent it back within the week. Several days later I get an acknowledgement and a "I'll get back to you by end of week". A week later, not having had a response, I follow up. No response either, until today, over five weeks later, I get an automated rejection. Ghosted *after* a case study? Feels like I've given a free consultancy. Very disappointing way of treating candidates, and reading interview feedback here I can see I'm far from being the only one.