That's bullshit. When I was hiring I needed a Skype/Phone call, and 1 hour of on-site or just another more technical call/interview (1-2 hours max if it goes really well). Hired 3 great folks and 1 that decided it's not a job for him, because he found it boring after all.

I never take the "a couple hours long assignments" because the scope is never "a couple hours", once company wanted me to build a chat service that would take at least 20 hours of work to get properly done with testing, etc.