Recruiter interview for 45 minutes. The interviewer had not taken the time to go through my portfolio earlier, they were not skilful in conducting the interviews. They were discovering things about me from my CV while talking to me. For example, they didn't know that I was already in the city they were hiring. This was stated clearly on my CV. The interviewer started off well but through the process, and while looking through my portfolio, expressed that I would be 'hard to sell'. They stated that my last full-time work experience and my latest project in my portfolio were 'dated'. It was in fact, up-to-date. To be clear, a portfolio is usually a showcase space of one's best work, which is exactly what mine is / was. I'm currently a freelancer who works on multiple projects, and without the explicit permission of my client, cannot showcase my latest work. The recruiter told me that if I could share some of my latest work with the team at Choco, they'd consider me for the interview. While I agreed to this, I also expressed surprise at the fact that this was the first time I was being expected to do this. The interviewer immediately turned it around and said 'I would absolutely NOT consider hiring a candidate who has a dated portfolio.' If the portfolio had to only showcase latest work, the job description should've explicitly stated it. When I gave feedback that in the future they should consider taking a different approach especially for candidates who may have had a career break, they said 'the market changes fast' and that they would 'absolutely NOT consider'. The entire process was uncomfortable and discouraged me from expressing myself fully. They stated that they were 'JUST noticing' that my last full-time work experience was a few years ago. Whose mistake is this? Surely not the candidate's. And why is being a freelancer a problem? The recruiter was neither respectful, nor apologetic despite knowing that they were at fault here, AND went on to put me down. A few days later, I was rejected by saying 'You simply do not bring enough UX writing experience for the role.' I'm not sour about being rejected by Choco — it's the manner in which this happened. This is the first interview in a really long time where I was treated differently. For a comparison scale, I've interviewed at 20 companies between 2021 and 2022 alone where the recruiters were respectful, aware and unbiased. Choco seems to be behind in that aspect. This gave me a fair idea of how it would be to work at Choco. I'd avoid interviewing here, or go prepared enough to call out the recruiter on their biases during the interview. All the best if you have an interview here. What I wish the company would do differently in the future: Most candidates who come for interviews have been rejected multiple times across different sectors, roles and companies. Their self-esteem may be different from a full-time employee looking to jump roles or levels. As humans it's important to be cognisant of how they feel. So, educate Choco's recruiters about dos and donts while talking to people from a background that's not theirs. Bring more diversity into your hiring. Ensure that every candidate is treated with respect. Have follow-up calls with candidates if they're willing to speak. Actively work towards bettering the hiring process.