I applied for a design job they advertised that was almost identical to the last long-term contract gig I had, in that it was (1) designing training materials, and (2) a remote position. The HR rep contacted me and scheduled a call to discuss. It was the standard conversation with a person who knows nothing about the design aspect of the job, can’t answer any specific questions I had, but rather just asks a generic checklist of useless HR questions. As it went on, I tried my best to “hide” my unemployment-ness as best as I could, but eventually I had to confess that, yes, I am unemployed and I simply have not had any luck finding a new job. What she asked me next seriously left me without words. “Why do you think that is?” I’m still trying to determine what exactly was the purpose behind asking me such an insensitive and downright mean question and, more importantly, what was the correct answer to this question. The call ended in the usual promise that she’ll share my info with the higher-ups. I never heard from her again.