My last job began with an out-of-the-blue phone call, a couple of phone interviews, and then a ~8-hour (paid) contract project (adding a couple of features to t

My last job began with an out-of-the-blue phone call, a couple of phone interviews, and then a ~8-hour (paid) contract project (adding a couple of features to the codebase I would be working on). I didn't actually meet any of my coworkers in person until about six months in. It was basically a paid audition. I'm not sure how I would've felt had it not worked out, but it seemed like a fair process for all involved. One big possible failure mode would be a totally incompetent auditioner, but paying a few hundred bucks for some unusable work is probably cheaper than bringing someone in for an interview with a few engineers, let alone hiring them.