Two weeks after applying online, they contacted me for a telephone screening. The call was brief (under ten minutes) and she did not give me any specifics about the job nor did she ask about my design skills. The only big question (as with just about every telephone screening these days) was what are my salary requirements. The call ended with her saying she would forward my application to the hiring manager. I told her to be sure s/he views my LinkedIn profile as one of my colleagues is a vice president at State Street, and she wrote a very nice recommendation for me. I also told her to be certain s/he has the login credentials to view my portfolio on my website (which I password-protect), as reviewing a designer’s portfolio is crucial when evaluating a designer’s candidacy. Less than 30 business hours later, I received her rejection email. In the span of time between the phone call and the rejection email, neither my LinkedIn profile nor my website had a single visitor, which just made me laugh out loud. I emailed her via the intermediary who coordinated our call, asking what was the criteria she used to disqualify me, as it appears that nothing significant from my background was evaluated. Of course, I received no reply from her. I have concluded that this job (like the majority of jobs advertised these days) was not a valid vacancy, i.e., it was already filled and they used me as a means to complete their EEO compliance checklist. Logic would dictate that if I was so massively unqualified for this position, then they should never have wasted my time with the phone screening in the first place. (As of today, more than a month later, the job remains advertised. Pathetic.)