CBT Architects: The stupid, it burns…

After seeing this company advertise the same graphic design manager job over and over these past ten months, I decided to take pen—er, keyboard in hand and send a little note to the email address given on their careers page. In my message, I referenced the numerous links to the previous job ads and then asked point blank just what kind of game they are playing here. I posed three scenarios, that either their hiring team is grossly incompetent, that they are disqualifying all applicants for superficial reasons like age (I saw very few people over the age of 35 in their Facebook photos), or that this job is simply FAKE.

Here’s the incredibly entertaining response I received (complete with typos and misuse of commas): 

First, thank you for your interest in CBT and for a different perspective in how our hiring process may be perceived by some applicants. CBT’s hiring philosophy is centralized around our commitment to diversity and to make long term hiring decisions. This sometimes translates into, a longer hiring process. We encountered several challenges with this position when we started recruiting. The first was, we were not looking for a graphic designer but we were looking for a graphic design manager. Someone with 2-5 years of experience managing projects and more importantly, a team. Someone who is sensitive to design but wants to be a manager. The second challenge was, many of the graphic candidates went off the market quickly and we needed to refresh the posting. Our graphic design manager position has closed. Indeed automatically sources jobs from other job boards that may still have this positon [sic] active but I do not utilize the job board. I have called and it will be taken off in their next update cycle.   The group has made several additions to the growing team and I just posted to add a mid-level designer to the group.

After reviewing your submitted application materials again, we have decided to not move forward for an interview for our new graphic design position. Best wishes for a successful job search. Thank you, again.

Let me now pick apart this ludicrous response.

First, thank you for your interest in CBT and for a different perspective in how our hiring process may be perceived by some applicants.

“Different perspective?” What the hell does perspective have to do with anything? Do you mean how it may be perceived by someone with a brain?

CBT’s hiring philosophy is centralized around our commitment to diversity and to make long term hiring decisions. This sometimes translates into, a longer hiring process.

This is just gibberish. And, no amount of gibberish can hide the fact that ten months to hire someone = absurd. 

We encountered several challenges with this position when we started recruiting. The first was, we were not looking for a graphic designer but we were looking for a graphic design manager. Someone with 2-5 years of experience managing projects and more importantly, a team. Someone who is sensitive to design but wants to be a manager.

So, let me see if I understand this. You put out a job advertisement where the qualifications include:

• Bachelor’s degree in graphic design 
• Proficiency in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop 
• Working knowledge of MS Word and Powerpoint 
• 3D modeling/rendering, motion, interactive and web design skills a plus 
• Strong typography, layout and conceptual skills
• Strong portfolio of work including finished designs; concept drawings/process books a plus 

You wanna know who’s gonna have these qualifications? A graphic designer. And, in a logical world, one would certainly want a manager who is well-versed in what they are managing (alas, we no longer live in a logical world).

The second challenge was, many of the graphic candidates went off the market quickly and we needed to refresh the posting.

This doesn’t explain anything. Since the “graphic candidates” weren’t the right candidates in the first place, why did it matter if they went “off the market quickly?” The bigger question is, if you failed to garner the right applicants after that first ad ran back in August 2016, shouldn’t the next step have been to rewrite the ad, change the qualifications, etc.?

After all, the definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  

Our graphic design manager position has closed.

Well, *finally* after ten months, that I won’t see this dumb job show up in my daily alerts is good news indeed!

Indeed automatically sources jobs from other job boards that may still have this positon active but I do not utilize the job board.

Liar, liar, pants on fire. Anyone can directly advertise a job on Indeed, which is clearly what they did on April 28.

The group has made several additions to the growing team and I just posted to add a mid-level designer to the group. After reviewing your submitted application materials again, we have decided to not move forward for an interview for our new graphic design position.

I’m not certain why this nasty little jab was necessary, as nowhere in my message did I state I wanted to be considered for any open positions with this company. In fact, I wouldn’t trust them to design a garbage dumpster for my condominium complex.

Best wishes for a successful job search. Thank you, again.

Screw you, too.

Just another example of how Boston continues to be a cesspool for anyone (a) over the age of 30, and (b) with a brain.