UK Recruitment Glossary
Take-Home Assignment
In recruiter context
Used widely in product, design, marketing, data, and engineering hiring. Length varies — 2 hours for marketing, 4-8 hours for product, 8-16 hours for engineering. The 'time stated' on the brief is usually 50-70% of what candidates actually spend; this is normal. Two ways take-homes go wrong: spending 30 hours when 6 was expected (signals desperation), and submitting work that's clearly under-effort (signals not interested). Aim for the stated time + 30%, document your approach and trade-offs, ship to a public link rather than ZIP'ing it. The work itself is rarely the deciding factor — the conversation about your decisions is.
Related terms
Sabbatical
A pre-arranged period of extended leave — typically 1-12 months — granted by employers for travel, s…
Shared Parental Leave
UK scheme allowing parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of statutory pay between th…
Reasonable Adjustments
Modifications UK employers must make under the Equality Act 2010 to support disabled employees — equ…
Shortlist
The 3-7 candidates a hiring manager interviews after the recruiter has filtered the full applicant p…