I applied for the Legal Counsel position at Braskem America (Philadelphia) in June 2020. The initial application process was very simple – attach your cover letter and resume to a basic application form located on the company’s website. Approximately a week after applying, Braskem’s Human Resources Department e-mailed me, asking me to complete a “Homework Assignment”. This Homework Assignment consisted of five (5) generic “professional style” questions (i.e. Tell me about a time you had to take over a challenging assignment started by someone else; How do you develop professional relationships with internal stakeholders; How do you convey difficult to understand information to audiences with different levels of sophistication; etc.). The e-mail specified that this Homework Assignment MUST be completed and returned to Braskem within seventy-two (72) hours. I submitted my Homework Assignment to Braskem within the prescribed time and then waited. I never received any confirmation of receipt or any form of acknowledgement from the company. A few weeks later, in mid-July, I e-mailed Human Resources to determine what the status of the position was. My follow-up e-mail was not responded to until almost two (2) weeks later, when I was advised that HR was still coordinating with the Hiring Team to determine what the next step of the process would be. A few days after receiving this response e-mail, I was advised by Braskem that I would be moving forward in the process. The next step in the process would be to speak with someone in Human Resources. For emphasis – It has been several weeks since I originally applied for the position. I was, without warning, asked to complete a “Homework Assignment” and I am only now (in late July) scheduling time to speak with someone in HR because I reached out to the company. My phone screen with HR was fairly standard – Tell me about yourself; Why are you interested in working for Braskem; What are your salary expectations and Don’t ask me anything about the job or Legal Department as I only work in HR. This conversation took roughly thirty (30) minutes. In late August, approximately a month after my HR phone screen, I was advised that I would again be moving forward in the interview process. This next step would be a video conference with a panel of interviewers. Scheduling this video conference took over a week, causing the interview to actually occur in mid-September. The panel that I was to meet with consisted of three (3) people – someone from HR and two (2) members of the Legal Department. Of the two (2) attorneys that I met with, one was significantly older than the other attorney, though the younger attorney had the more senior job title. Though I was questioned by the entire panel, the older attorney ran the interview. At this point, it became clear that I was really interviewing to be the older attorney’s replacement when he retired. To be frank, he was quite elderly (decades older than everyone else in the meeting) and quite unhappy to be participating in the conversation. Although this video interview occurred during the Fall of 2020 (i.e. while people were working from home during the pandemic), everyone was dressed in a professional manner, except the older attorney, who was lounging on his couch, wearing an old, ratty sweatshirt. Furthermore, his dog continued to bark and howl throughout the interview. As for the interview itself, it was clear from the older attorney’s questions that I was being interviewed not to fill the position, but rather to be disqualified from it. He was very aggressive in his questioning. He would second guess every one of my answers and acted dissatisfied with everything that I said. From his reactions, you would think that I am unable to function as a competent adult. Some time ago, I learned that a good technique to diffuse a combative interview is to politely ask the interviewer how they would handle the situation that they are criticizing you about. This interrupts their flow and usually results with them agreeing with your answer. I employed this technique during the interview, and while the older attorney would eventually agree with my answers, he became enraged that I was questioning him. Obviously, I did not get the position, however I would not be advised of this until mid-October (over a month after I was interviewed). In total, the entire process took five (5) months. In November 2020, the position was re-advertised. In June 2021, the position was advertised for a third time. And in August 2021, the same position was advertised for a fourth time. I suspect that the older attorney is sabotaging the interview process to delay his retirement. Clearly Braskem is unable to comprehend that the older attorney has hijacked the process or is unwilling or unable to rein him in. Professionally speaking, your time is better spent pursuing other opportunities.