How to negotiate a take-home assignment respectfully
A recruiter at IFS sends you a link to a 20-page brief. "Please return this by Friday," the email says. It's Tuesday afternoon. Sound familiar?
Take-home assignments have become standard at product companies and MNCs operating in Colombo — WSO2, Sysco LABS, Calcey, Axiata Digital, and Zone24x7 all use some form of them. But there's a wide gap between what candidates think they must accept and what's actually negotiable. Knowing that difference can save you ten hours of unpaid work, or quietly tell you whether you actually want this job.
Why companies use take-home assignments
Before you negotiate, understand what the company is trying to learn. A take-home tests whether you can think independently, manage your time, and produce real output without a whiteboard and a nervous interviewer staring at you. That's fair. What's less fair is an assignment scoped for a five-day sprint handed to a candidate who still has a full-time job.
When the ask is unreasonable, the company is either poorly organised — or in a small number of cases, quietly fishing for free work product. Both are signals worth noting.
Clarify scope before you start anything
Reply to every take-home with at least two clarifying questions. This signals seniority and prevents wasted effort. A message that consistently works:
"Thanks for sharing this — happy to proceed. Before I begin, could you let me know the expected time investment and the main dimension you're evaluating? I want to make sure I focus my effort where it actually matters."
Most hiring managers at professional companies will appreciate the directness. It shows you can prioritise, which is itself a signal.
Asking for a deadline extension
You are allowed to ask for more time. The question is how you frame it.
Don't say: "I'm very busy and can't do this by Friday."
Do say: "I'm currently on a deliverable with my team. Would a Tuesday submission work, or is Friday firm because of your panel schedule?"
Framing the request around their process rather than your inconvenience makes it easy for the recruiter to say yes. Most will extend by two or three days if the pipeline allows. If they say no and Friday is truly immovable, you now know what working there will feel like when deadlines are tight.
Scoping down a large assignment
If the brief looks like it will take longer than four hours for a role at your level, push back on scope explicitly:
"The brief as written looks like 8–10 hours of solid work. I'd rather give you something quality than something rushed — would it be acceptable to complete modules 1 and 2 only, and discuss the remaining parts in a follow-up call?"
This works because:
- It shows you can estimate effort — a genuinely valuable engineering and management skill.
- It proposes a concrete alternative rather than a vague complaint.
- It keeps the process moving without requiring you to ghost.
No reasonable hiring team at Virtusa, LSEG Technology, or Hemas Corporate will object to a candidate who estimates work and communicates proactively.
Protecting your intellectual property
This point is underappreciated in Sri Lanka. If the assignment asks you to design an actual product feature, write production-ready code, or produce output that looks like real work — not a simulation — add a short note to your submission:
"This work is submitted for evaluation purposes only and is not licensed for use in production or commercial applications."
It's not aggressive. It's professional. Any legitimate employer will respect it without comment.
When to decline gracefully
Sometimes the right answer is no. If the assignment requires more than six hours for a mid-level role, or you're already deep in another hiring process about to close, you can walk away without burning the bridge:
"Thank you for considering me. After reviewing the brief, I don't think I can give it the time it deserves right now. I'll keep an eye on your openings — I'd genuinely love to work with the team."
Keep it short, warm, and specific. Colombo's professional circles are small. Recruiters at the same company — or the same person at a different company — will remember candidates who handled a declination with class.
What the company's reaction tells you
A hiring team that respects your push-back is a team that will respect your time once you're an employee. A company that responds to a reasonable scope question with "just do it or we'll move on" has just shown you exactly what the culture looks like from the inside.
The take-home assignment isn't only a test of your skills. It's also a test of theirs. Pay attention to what you learn — it's often the most useful data point you'll collect before signing an offer.