I can totally envision recruiters spamming candidates with the take-home exercises regardless of what the employers intended when drafting them up, in the inter

I can totally envision recruiters spamming candidates with the take-home exercises regardless of what the employers intended when drafting them up, in the interests of keeping a full queue of candidates+results on hand. That's unfortunate, because I strongly prefer the take-home approach over in-person whiteboard exercises. Recruiters are often sleazy, that's really the crux of the problem IMHO. Personally, I've always had a portfolio free software projects to point them at for review before any in-person interactions take place. I think that's probably the best defense for candidates in this scenario.