Interview Red Flags: How to politely decline a fifth interview round, push back on unpaid take-home work, withdraw without burning the bridge

You have done the interviews, answered the questions, sat through the extra round, and now the email arrives: one more conversation, or a take-home project that was supposed to take an hour and has swallowed a weekend. Maybe an offer disappeared after you asked a perfectly ordinary question about time off. You are not sure whether this is how hiring simply works or a warning sign, and you are even less sure how to say no without wrecking a connection you might need. Interview Red Flags teac...