I read most of your posts, and normally agree with you - but I think you're way off here. Let's say I'm a good candidate. A great one. Maybe the best. Your company want me to jump through these silly little hoops for weeks trying to prove it. Company B looks at my resume, calls me in for an interview the next day, calls a few of my references right after the interview and makes me a good offer by phone which I've accepted before I even get home. You've lost me. This is not hypothetical, it's happened to me a number of times. The only people left in your recruitment process are the guys and girls who aren't being snapped up by your competitors. You have lost. When I'm recruiting, I do it based on one interview in which I need to see some code the candidate has written and have him/her talk me through it and answer questions in a way that convinces me they wrote it themselves. That's enough. If they suck, or they cause trouble, or whatever - then it's obvious within the probation period anyway and it's easy to get rid of them.