Pretty much every place I spoke to, I had 1-2 chats with a recruiter before I got to a phone screen. Did 2 phone screens each at 3 companies. Company 1 has gone mum. Company 2 wanted to fly me out (I declined) and Company 3 wants to do a third screening interview.

And those were the good ones. Two companies asked me to do multi-hour "homework assignments" as part of their screen. I declined those right away.

In the old days, I've gotten jobs with 30 minute conversations. Is that pretty much gone now? Do people take a month off of work when they need to find a new gig?