How marathon IT job interviews are exhausting (for us agencies too)

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If you're a technology job hopeful aiming to work in London or Financial Services, you've probably noticed something strange creeping into the hiring process.

The interviews are becoming longer, more complex - and quite frankly, it's getting silly.

Overly long, ‘marathon’ job interviews are alive and kicking tech candidates

A “nine-stage interview” was flagged up on my LinkedIn feed only the other day.

Not that I need social media to tell me that this trend of the ‘marathon’ interview is alive and kicking IT job candidates (thanks, Rebecca Collis for sharing, though).

That’s because I’m the founder of boutique staffing agency Bowers Partnership. We place freelance and contract IT professionals with Investment, Wealth, and Asset Owner companies, writes Bowers Partnership boss Natalie Bowers.

The hiring process equivalent to dial-up? Marathon interviews feel like it…

And while the tech in 2025-26 keeps getting slicker, the hiring process? It's heading in the opposite direction.

This article on tech job interview ‘scope creep,’ if you will, is a follow-up to my last Free-Work article, where I helped you decode freelance job adverts.

Multi-multi stage interviews are all the rage in IT

Only this time, I’m looking at what happens AFTER you apply for an IT role because the modern tech interview is turning into a full-blown side hustle. And an unpaid one at that!

Don’t worry; I’ll explain, including with some top tips (now and next week) on how to deal with the increasingly common ‘multi-multi’ stage interview, also known as the ‘marathon interview.’

What is a marathon interview?

A marathon interview is a job interview that spirals out of all proportion to the tech work you’re going forward for (contractor) or applying for (permanent).

The marathon interview often starts with a quick “intro call.” All is fine so far.

Then there’s a chat with the hiring manager. Sounds promising!

The short technical test that turns into a monster technical test…

But then, after this well-placed early ‘hook,’ comes a “short” technical test -- which turns out to be a monster technical test.

All of a sudden, you’re solving niche problems on custom platforms, in a timed environment, with no second chance.

Potentially with a second strategically placed ‘hook’ to keep you -- the candidate -- interested, the marathon interview process then tends to include some sort of presentation. Or if you’re on the more technical side of tech, you might be invited to map out system architecture, or do a slide deck on how you’d fix the prospective employer’s data strategy.

Lots of hoops to jump through (not that any win you a spot on any formal shortlist)

Oh, and remember -- you haven’t even been formally shortlisted yet!

You have heard lots of encouraging sounds, however. And these positive sounds are uttered in the hope you’ll find extra stamina to keep going with the marathon interview.

Don’t believe me?

Fireworks, prototypes, and ‘Meet our CIO’

Well, thanks to a string of “oohs,” “aahs,” “wows” and other sounds usually reserved for reacting to fireworks, I’ve heard of tech job applicants being asked to build working prototypes.

Perhaps more daunting, as part of their marathon interview, one IT job hopeful I know was even summoned to present to the financial services company’s CIO!

Crazily, that invite was issued even before the candidate had received the formal job spec.

Sorry employers -- that’s not vetting. That’s free labour.

The six-stage interview? It’s standard in 2025-26 at some tech employers

With freelance or temporary roles, some financial firms now run five or six rounds as part of their ‘standard’ tech interview.

I’ve been in recruitment for more than a weekend, so I can tell you that even this is taking the classic ‘multi-stage’ interview to the extreme. It’s now more accurately the ‘multi-multi’ stage interview.

What a multi-multi stage ‘hustle,’ sorry ‘interview,’ looks like

With these 5 or 6-stage interviews, you meet one stakeholder, then another, then another.

Each stakeholder wants their own session, with their own questions for you to answer.

And somewhere in between, you get a technical test or three thrown in. Then brace yourself for an additional test because, sod’s law, the project has changed direction!

Too many cooks…

Generally, with tech job interviews, it’s a case of ‘Too many cooks’ spoiling your chances. Put another way, the more people involved, the harder it is to get a decision. And arguably, it’s even harder to get a favourable decision.

We know of one high-skilled, niche technical job candidate who said she ended up repeating the same answers, because the fourth stage of interview tasks were largely the second stage’s dressed up in a few scenario-based multiple choice questions.

‘On hold,’ and the other key phrase of a marathon interview

The niche techie told us of an absence of a clear hiring ‘owner’ -- with no real commitment or decision-making power from anyone in the room(s).

Often while you’re jumping through hoops, during which you’ve invariably shared some quite valuable ideas, the budget for your vacancy or project is placed “on hold.”

Or “under review.”

Freelancers in tech somehow face longer interviews than full-timers

Here’s the irony.

Tech freelancers, IT interims and digital contractors going forward for short-term assignments are being grilled more heavily than permanent hires who’ll be with the end-hirer for potentially YEARS.

As a temporary, independent techie, you’re not asking for a pension, bonus scheme or paid time off. You’re offering a solution with immediate value.

And yet, you’re asked to do more prep, meet more people, and deliver more content than a full-time employee going through a two-stage process, even though you’ll be in and out in three months.

What is going on?!

Marathon interviews are being used to bag free IT consultancy services

A client recently told me they were “really impressed” by the technology consultant’s “presentation.”

Two weeks into the process, as their dedicated recruitment agent, I had to remind them they hadn’t still hadn’t hired the person.

And actually, they’d just got free consultancy from a top-tier fintech consultant trying to get their foot in the door of a new sub-sector.

Day job first, then the 9pm switch to unpaid consultancy work...

Many techies in 2025-26 appear to be interviewing while already in a contract. If that’s you, it means you’re squeezing technical tests, interview prep, and the inevitable follow-up Teams calls around your ‘day job.’

In effect, you’re doing unpaid work at 9pm, often for clients who might not even acknowledge receipt. It’s time-consuming, morale-draining, and, worryingly, it’s becoming the norm.

How to push back against the marathon interview

Non-permanent technologists often worry that ‘pushing back’ against the marathon or multi-multi stage will make them appear awkward, “difficult,” or not committed.

But here’s the truth:

Asking questions about interview length/duration, process, make-up or stages, doesn’t make you high-maintenance -- it makes you PROFESSIONAL.

Suspect a marathon interview? Here’s three things to ask

As a freelance Python developer or PHP programmer (where rates per hour/day aren’t to be sniffed at), you’re well within your rights to ask HOW LONG:

  1. A technical test should take;

  2. A presentation would ideally run for, and what it is really for;

  3. A Teams call will last and which person on the call is tasked with making the hiring decision.

When to say ‘No’ to a prospective employer’s exhausting interview process

And if you’re being asked to build something or prepare a pitch deck for free? Well, techies, you can - and should - say “No.”

As an A-list recruitment professional who values the time of self-employed, contract and full-time workers, my toes curl when my clients ask me to facilitate long technical tests.

Likewise, full-scale presentations as part of a multi-multi stage interview are just cringeworthy.

The marathon interview, quite frankly, is exhausting, and I’m not even the one sitting all the tests!

If I were the candidate, I’d politely decline any requests where, upon asking questions and checking, they seem to exceed what seems proportionate to the role or contract being offered.

And finally with multi-multi stage interviews, let’s get personal…

Oh, and for the avoidance of doubt, if you’re a candidate we have or will place on London’s Square Mile, I wouldn’t expect any of our IT contractors who we support to say “Yes” either.

Amid a slight improvement for tech job-seekers at present, CANDIDATE IS KING.

If the process doesn’t respect your time, your skill, or your value, then it’s the process that’s broken, not you.

I’ll be back next week on Free-Work, with 5 top tips on how you can survive the marathon interview, assuming, that is, you choose to accept one in the first place.

Written by

Natalie Bowers

Bowers Partnership

Natalie Bowers is the managing director of Bowers Partnership, a boutique City firm specialising in sourcing talent for investment and wealth management firms and asset owners. She boasts over three decades of experience in recruitment within the world of corporate IT. Natalie has secured contracts for in excess of 1,000 freelance professionals during her career as a recruiter. She is renowned for her industry-specific expertise and is a sought-after commentator for various recruitment publications and specialist technology / contracting platforms.

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