The HR representative's attitude during the phone interview was completely inconsistent with the company's advertised culture. They exhibited ingrained biases related to age and experience discrimination, and belittled the candidate, viewing their employment gap as a waste of time.

Worst interview I've ever had - total lack of professionalism and respect. I had just left an internship at a large company and was in the process of converting to full time (side note: I already had a few years' experience before this internship, and had finished my masters degree). However, as it was taking too long, I was forced to look for other options for financial reasons. I was extremely happy when they contacted me for an interview with Decathlon. As a (former) customer of the brand, I thought it would make perfect sense for my career path - I couldn't have been more wrong. During the interview they only asked questions about why I hadn't stayed with the company where I did my internship, with one of the interviewers even assuming that I hadn't succeeded in my internship and that that was why I was there. They didn't ask a single relevant question about what I could bring to the company/team and always maintained a noticeable disdain while questioning - yes, it felt more like an interrogation since no answer I gave regarding my previous company was sufficient. When they asked me about my salary expectations, I explained that as I had a master's degree and experience, I wouldn't accept less than €1,400 (mind you, I had done my research and had already been offered that amount by other companies). Without meaning to, I must have hit the nail on the head with the interviewer's salary, because she took great offence and said that this was unrealistic for someone who ‘hadn't worked for months’. I explained to her that she was wrong, that I had always worked, but regardless she shouldn't assume something like that either, because you never know why someone takes a break (in this case, 3 months) in their career - what if I had a health problem? what if I was dealing with a difficult loss? The lack of empathy and politeness was notorious. When the interview was over, I told HR straight away that I wasn't interested in continuing and that I didn't identify with the company's values - especially if the people interviewing me were going to be in my ‘future’ team. They managed to convince me to have at least one interview with the company's Human Resources Director (totally in damage control mode), and I accepted. I already knew that I would never accept any offer, but now I was also curious to know if all the employees suffered from the same lack of professionalism and also wanted to know what the ‘fair’ salary was. I'll tell you right now that if my first interview had been with the HR Director, maybe this comment wouldn't be happening, because I got a very good impression (but then again, that's his job, isn't it?). I went on to the last interview of the process, this time in person at the Maia office (Portugal). It was much better than the first one, with questions about my previous company (I expected and understand that some need to be asked), but at the end they again focussed on a possible return to it. I explained that at the moment I was looking for more stability in my career, that I wanted a place where I could grow and that if it was in my country it would be much better. However, they kept insisting. So I decided to ask if life (environment/salary/benefits, etc.) at the company was that bad, since they don't even give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're 100% leaving. They rang me at the end of the week to say that ‘headquarters had deleted the role, so they couldn't move forward. This was, of course, by phone so that nothing would be recorded. For obvious reasons, I wasn't interested in the role, but it seems even more ridiculous to me that instead of saying that I wasn't chosen (they could say I simply did not fit the company which I would 100% agree), they proceeded with a lie since the role was still on LinkedIn and the official pages. Believe me, there are still a lot of details missing from the story, a lot of questions and a huge lack of respect and empathy that unfortunately I can't tell here. Please don't just get anyone to do interviews. At least make sure the person has as little training as possible. Note: The name of the job on linkedin was different from the name of the job I was told in the interviews - I confess I can't remember for sure, but it was in the procurement area. I believe the last name was the one I entered here. Process: phone screen + 2 online interviews + 1 interview at the office in Maia, Portugal Result: I ended up getting the role I wanted in one of the biggest companies in the world, with a much higher salary than I requested. I know job hunting can be very hard, especially if you find people like this, but please trust me, rejection is redirection. You got this!!