I recently received a job offer from an ad agency after doing a week's work placement. I worked extremely hard to get the placement having spent weeks creating a full mock ad campaign with video and print ads, accompanying briefs, research, reports, analysis as well as a fun application booklet to go with my CV etc… they said it was the best interview they've ever had, and likewise I put in a lot of extra work during my placement, the end of which they were very impressed and offered me a job, which I very happily accepted (think the end of The Pursuit of Happiness, that was me, crying with joy on the way home).
They said they'd contact me on the Monday or Tuesday with all the details. After a week, nothing. So I send a friendly email on Thursday just to let them know if they need any additional info. Another week goes by, nothing. All the while I'm stuck in limbo, each day that goes by the sinking feeling increases but at the same time I don't want to seem rude or impatient with them (while at the same time overthinking it and not wanting to seem like I don't care if they don't contact me and maybe this is all a test???)…
On the following Thursday I decide it's finally time to phone up the person who had organised my placement (again super friendly under the guise of 'catching up' with them), when I ask her about the job she just says “oh yeah, that's no longer happening” so nonchalantly as if it just slipped her mind. When I ask if there's any feedback I could get in regards to my placement/application for the role she just said “it just didn't work out” and brushed it off like it was nothing…
This alone was crushing, all that work was for nothing and I wasted precious time waiting around for what I thought was going to be my new job… but wait there's more!
… Skip forward a few days, I'm on the Agency's linkedin page and see that they've just announced a new hire for the role I was offered. What the fuck. In the comments was a message posted by a middle aged woman with the same surname as the new hire that said “I'm so proud of you honey, you got the job you wanted at the agency you wanted!” I thought it was super odd that the new hire's mum was openly commenting on a linkedin post from the company that just hired her daughter like that, so I go on her profile and see that she's connected with the agency's management staff, then I look up her job and it turns out she's one of the top execs at the ad agency's holding company, meaning they hired the daughter of a woman who practically owns the agency. I lost my job offer to a goddamn nepo baby.
Suddenly it all made sense why they didn't have a good excuse for pulling the offer and why they were too ashamed to even let me know.
Nepo babies man, they have no idea just how easy they have it.