Bain & Company

Bain & Company was recently ranked by Glassdoor as the best place to work. Even funnier, Stinkassachusetts was ranked the best state in which to live. Let’s see how the best company in the best state treated me when I applied for a senior graphics coordinator position in August 2016.

I have twenty years of experience designing/developing presentations so, naturally, I easily earned an initial phone screening with the HR rep. One of the questions she asked me was, "Tell me about a time when your attention to detail made you successful!" She was impressed with me enough to schedule me for a phone interview with the hiring manager, who also asked me, "Tell me about a time when your attention to detail made you successful!" She in turn scheduled me to come in to their Boston office for an interview. After first making me perform a PPT test (to prove I haven't faked my career), I met briefly with her, and then she left the room after conferencing in another person from their NY office, who proceeded to ask me "Tell me about a time when your attention to detail made you successful!" 

The following week I got a voicemail from the HR rep saying they are considering me but due to Labor Day "things have slowed down" so it may be awhile before I hear anything. NEVER heard from them again.

In January 2017, I noticed they were again advertising the same job. I applied only to use my cover letter to let them know what I think of them. I received an email from an HR rep saying that the woman who was in charge of sending me a rejection email had left the company before doing so, and they apologize for the oversight. As for why I wasn't chosen for the job, she said, "I am unable to comment on the reasons as to why your candidacy had not been successful at the time."

I remember a time when it was standard procedure to tell candidates what part of their background or personality fell short. I can recall being told everything way back when, from "she just didn't like you" (people aren't nice in Stinkassachusetts, so a nice normal person will be subjected to loads of this here) to "you seemed too serious.” She then regurgitated the standard "Looking at your resume right now, I can say that your previous experience and qualifications, though impressive, do not quite match the requirements of the current role. We therefore unfortunately will not proceed with your application any further."

Putting aside the fact that this is a job I've done for half my life, explain to me how I was qualified enough last August for three rounds of interviews, but I am suddenly completely unqualified for the exact same role? I've concluded one of two scenarios here: 

(a) This job was completely fake, only posted to satisfy EEOC regulations; they had a full team of graphics coordinators, so it would only seem logical that the promotion would go to someone internally. 

(b) They didn't know how massively OLD I was until I came in to their office on that third interview. Now that they are aware of how old I am, they clearly want nothing to do with me. Boston is second only to Silicon Valley in its hostility towards older workers -- "old" being over 35. Anyone who doubts this should simply look at the video in the banner on their Glassdoor page, which is full of twentydumbthings.