Complaint Review: Interactions Corp. - Austin Texas

After completing the full training schedule, submitting to drug and back ground tests and placing in the top 3% of correct answers amongst my group of candidates throughout the training process, I was just informed that I would not be hired by Interactions Corportation of Austin, Texas because I exhibited an "inablity to learn at a sufficiant pace".

This is a false, but convenient grounds for dismissal from a a company that clearly leaves too much power in any one individual trainer's hands. It's a subjective grounds for dismissal, which makes it difficult to prosecute or contest. 

The truth of the matter is that the instructor decided not to give me but a total of 15 minutes of one-on-one guidance throughout the entire 3 days of the final evaluation process, clearly favoring other candidates and devoting her time and attention to them. While joking, laughing, answering all of their questions and telling them about her two teenaged children, she left me, (and possibly other qualified candidates), sitting unattended at our workstations with no hands-on guidance. In addition, she actually PASSED ME BY several times without stopping throughout the training days in order to spend even more time with the candidates she favored.

Despite all of that and with less than 15 mintues total facetime with the instructor, I still managed to compete in the visable leaderboards with the other top two candidates in the class, coming in first, second or third for the majority of the time we spent in training.

So confident was I that I would get the job, (as was every other candidate, since they could see the leaderboards as well), that when I was pulled away from my work station in front of everyone, taken a few feet away and fired next to the open door that lead to the training room, no one could believe it, myself included. When I walked back in to get my things, (which I was told I could leave even when I asked if I should bring them with me, resulting in me having to return to the training area with the look on my face of someone who had just been fired without provication - a very nice touch indeed), my face wasn't the only one showing shock as it dawned on the room I had been sacked from the hiring process. In fact, EVERYONE'S face showed shock except for the instructor, who for whatever reason, had clearly thrown me under the bus.

The firing wasn't a conversation about what I would need to do to bring myself up to whatever speed they might have required of this woman, who was testing in position 1-3 of all other candidates throughout the process. In fact, it was nothing. Just some BS about how I exhibited a "failure to learn at a sifficiant pace" after having basically taught MYSELF the entire system over the course of 3 days with little to no outside help from an instructor who clearly not only showed favorites, but also showed least favorites.

The long and short of it is that I am left to believe that they probably never intended to hire me, and simply went through the process of hiring me to meet whatever equal rights laws and regulations are required of them. I experienced first hand personal discrimination from this company and from their intructor, Michelle. Whether or not I was discriminated against because I'm another female, because I'm 40 years old, because she simply didn't like me, because I threatened her in some way, or whatever - what happened to me was just completely crazy and horribly unprofessional.

This company had better get their act together. I can image, if they don't change their power structures soon, they are going to run into some very serious legal issues down the road. And with good cause.