After about two months from the official job application posting online I was given an over-the-phone interview. This lasted about twenty or so minutes and consisted of a bunch of standard questions about my previous experience. Later that night, they gave me a task to curate images for two different client briefs that had no deadline. I completed and returned the task by the next morning and exceeded their expectations.
The next day I received an email inviting me for an interview at the office (Berlin, Germany). The interview lasted just over forty minutes and again, it was a pleasant experience with normal interview questions and all seamed very positive.
After that, however is where things became highly unprofessional.
I was told I would receive a phone call within a week and to give them an email if I had any further questions about the job. I emailed with a couple of questions I had thought of and waited for their reply.
I received no phone call, nor did I receive a reply to my email .
Two weeks had passed since the in-office interview date. With the job still posted online I followed up once again with an email.
One more week passed. I then received an email with a negative response, (fair enough). However the content of the email was beyond unprofessional. It stated that I wasn't passionate about photography enough (by the way I have studied photography for six years and live and breathe for photography) and that I wasn't well enough connected with the photography scene or in with the latest trends ( who I know or what trends I know about did not come up once in the interview process ).
This I find highly unprofessional and blindly insulting.