I had applied the previous year for a CSR position and was turned down without an interview. Then a current employee recommended me for a sales role and I was contacted by a recruiter by phone for a phone screening and scheduled for an in-person interview. When I came for that interview, I discovered I was only meeting with the recruiter and not interviewing with a hiring manager. I went approximately two weeks without any feedback or notice on the status of a follow up interview and had attempted to reach the recruiter only to be told that he did not want to advance me in the sales role I had applied for but might consider me if a CSR role opened as I was a "better fit" for CS. I was contacted a month later to schedule an interview for the CSR role and went through another phone screen by the same recruiter as well as in-person before having an interview with two hiring managers and two CSR's. I again waited a week before being rejected once more. When I asked for feedback (as I had been specifically chosen to interview for that specific role), another few weeks passed before being told that "the hiring managers couldn't see advancing a candidate that had voluntarily left the workforce" from the recruiter and "the hiring managers wanted (me) to have more sales experience" from the internal source. Interestingly enough, the recruiter and hiring managers had been fully aware that I had been laid off by my previous employer (therefore not "voluntary") and that I had twice the sales experience outlined in the position requirements for the sales role. However, I could not understand why I was being turned down for sales experience when it was not required for the CSR position. Curious.