The remark about senior designers hit right in my solar plexus... Last year I was being interviewed for a consultancy job (software development however) where

The remark about senior designers hit right in my solar plexus... Last year I was being interviewed for a consultancy job (software development however) where they specifically needed people straight from university. Everything went great! They really liked me, we had a great conversation and I felt that this was definitely something I would accept if offered a position. At the meeting they were very pleased with my experience and told me that they would discuss it and get back to me. The next day, the secretary called me and told me that they were not yet ready to hire "people THIS junior" to the position. Now, there were two things horribly wrong about that: 1) Somewhere during the process they lied. They invited me for an interview based on my very precise CV and cover letter, for a position of regular level "inviting straight from uni" (I had had 2.5 years of full time experience at that point). And I was "too junior"? 2) They called my boss without asking for a reference or even if I would mind it. This is completely opposite of what is usually considered "proper etiquette" in my country. Also guess who hated me and wanted to find an excuse to have me fired (but couldn't justify it because I was doing my job)? That's right... Rant-mode disengaged. My points are that I'm happy to see I'm not the only one in the boat and that some hiring managers should get gently patted on their backs. With a truck.