Bank of America Via Collabera

In April 2014 I was contacted by a recruiter from Collabera about a contract design job at Bank of America. I was a bit skeptical as the job description teetered on the more technical side rather than creative, but he insisted I was more than qualified, so he submitted me for the job. A few days later he emailed me asking if I can provide any samples of my work. I said, “You’ve got the link to my online portfolio, didn’t they get that?” He replied, “They want to see more.” I took a deep breath and pointed out that just about everything important I’ve done is on my site, if they want something specific I’ll need to know what that is and see if I can dig through my files to provide it, then I asked him what specifically are they looking for. His response was, "I don't know." Sigh. I could see this was turning out to be another waste of time and said that if they can’t tell me specifically what aspect of my experience they need to see more of, then I can’t provide anything. I thought that would end it, but surprisingly he contacted me back later saying they wanted to interview me.

Met with two young guys. Interview lasted for an hour and I actually thought it had gone rather well. The second kid even walked out and chatted with me down the elevator and into the building lobby. I left feeling surprisingly optimistic. Two days later I received the email from the recruiter saying I didn’t get the job, reason was “applicant not qualified.”

??????

How did I go from “qualified” to “unqualified” here…I certainly didn’t present myself any differently than what I present in my CV. If I was unqualified, then why did they waste my time (I paid $35 just to park) and get my hopes up by bringing me in for an interview? Seems to me these kids were unqualified to be deciding whom to interview...