I received an email from Noemi Barraza, COO through Indeed expressing interest in my applying for the Marketing & Sales Coordinator position. I reviewed all the requirements and responsibilities and saw that I could fulfill all the needs of the position. I sent in my resume, they asked for a day and time to meet, and we set an appointment to meet the next morning. They seemed like a good company to work for with many positive reviews outweighing the negative reviews.
The next morning, I drive to their office and see a guy setting up the conference room. He asked who I was there to see and told him Noemi. I was excited about the opportunity and prepared to answer all their questions even though the responsibilities were more of a Marketing Manager or Director level. The pay they listed was in the range of a Coordinator, but I was ready to work with them and come to an agreement.
As the guy passed by Noemi, I noticed that they had a brief exchange. As Noemi approached me she held out her hand to greet me and promptly said "I'm sorry, I already hired someone for the position. I was shocked, to say the least. Offering her apology for my driving down, she turned and walked away.
My first thought was, wow, what just happened. If she hired someone, why didn't she take 30 seconds to email and let me know, or call and leave a voice message? Something didn't seem right. If they treated me, a person who was there for an interview, like that, how did they actually treat their employees? Not very well I figured. I wondered if all the positive reviews were actually planted by them.
Reflecting even more, I realized that this was exactly the same type of treatment I experienced far too many times in the past. It seemed like age discrimination. They looked at me, saw I was older and shut me down, even before talking to me. How rude! At least other companies went through the interview and then told me things like, "even though you may not be offered the position, the fact you (I) made it this far was a testament to my resume and abilities." What a line of bull.
The bottom line is, even though I can't prove it, companies, and people like these keep getting away with blatant discrimination and breaking the law, even though I had the skills and abilities to do everything the position required. My advice to those who are considering working for this company, don't bother. Turn around and walk, no, run away. If they treat a people who they asked to come in and interview for a position this way, imagine how they must treat the people who actually work for them.
Advice to management:
If you treat prospective employees, like the way you treated me, whether you did actually hire someone or practice blatant age discrimination, your priorities are screwed up. You blew the chance to have a great employee working for you and taking care of your marketing and sales needs. Get your heads screwed on right and start respecting people, even if it means going through the motions before you seemingly blatantly break the law.
