Aspen Technology

Here is the letter I sent to this company’s board of directors in December 2015 (never received a reply, of course):

On October 28, I applied for the Senior Graphic Designer position you advertised on your website (job description attached). One week later, I received your rejection email stating my experience “does not match the requirements of the position.” I have 17 years of design experience, meeting every single requirement listed in the job description, so I was a little baffled by the rejection email.

I immediately emailed your HR department demanding that you remove me from your database as I do not want my personal information residing on your servers. Within 30 minutes of sending this email, my visitor statistics revealed that someone in your organization viewed my website and portfolio; my LinkedIn profile also received two anonymous viewers from your organization. 

Number one, I would like to know what the true “qualifications” are for this position. Clearly, you rejected me for something not mentioned in the job description (like the applicant’s age). 

Number two, I’m even more curious to know why this job has just been newly posted – after two months, am I to believe you received zero qualified applicants in a state where talented designers are a dime a dozen? Again, considering that you dismissed me as “unqualified,” it begs the question of what the hidden qualifications are for your perfect job candidate. 

Finally, I’d like to know why your HR department went to the trouble of reviewing my website and LinkedIn profile after receiving my email requesting that I be removed from your system. Logic would dictate that the time to have performed this task would have been BEFORE rejecting me. I am confused as to what they expected to accomplish here (quite frankly, it makes them look like a bunch of childish idiots with too much free time on their hands).

Unless I hear otherwise from you, I’ll assume that either your company is guilty of discrimination, your hiring team is completely incompetent, or that this job is not even real and you’re merely “tire kicking.” All scenarios reflect very poorly on you, and I will continue to warn every design professional in my social network to avoid your company.