At the end of last year, I was contacted by a popular technology company about open positions. I love my job but this was one of those opportunities that you can’t turn down. People are clawing at the doors of this company.

I have worked for start-ups, non-profits, and Fortune 500 companies, but I have never seen a recruiting process like this.

As a veteran in my field, I admit, when I was told that the first round would be a video interview with a writing exercise I was somewhat put off. I have never had to test into a position. I am not just out of college. But, I decided to move ahead, albeit with some surliness.

To my surprise, it was a fantastic experience and I would recommend that every company do this! I met with the interviewer for a few minutes. Next, I started to work on a shared document. While I worked, I verbalized my thoughts and added comments about what else I would do if I was working on the document in real life. After 45 minutes, my time was up. It sounds like a lot of time and I work fast, but the time flew.

Next, the interviewer asked me questions about the changes and why I made them. He was clearly trying to understand how I think. It was fun to share and give him insight into my process. I am a convert as I think that everyone applying for a position like this should go through a similar exercise.

I heard from the company quickly. This was another pleasant surprise in the age of silence from organizations. Although they wanted to move ahead, after a candid conversation, we decided to put the brakes on the process. As I mentioned earlier, I love my job. Maybe in the future, life will change, and we will reconnect.

This was definitely worth my time because I learned a new interview technique and met some fantastic people. However, I was also reminded to look at my world holistically and to make the best decision for myself for today.