Communicate By Designx interview questions

Extremely Unprofessional. This was one of the most bizarre, unprofessional, and truly just awkward job interviews I have ever been on. I am not one to write a slew of negative reviews, but I find it important to share this with anyone thinking about applying or working for this business. What they are doing is highly unethical if not, illegal. Firstly --they are a “design firm” but all of their work is composed of stock photos, cheesy graphics, and word art executed with the experience of a middle schooler. I applied for two positions -- and this should have been a red flag for me–– but the job descriptions were virtually identical and one listed 3 YOE and the other 5 YOE. I was asked to interview for the “junior-level” (mind you, I have a total of 10 YOE, but creative jobs can often have a range when it comes to YOE). I was asked to walk through my entire online portfolio, composed of work from my full-time job and freelance work (another red flag). I was told that I was not qualified for the more senior-level position due to my lack of experience with a certain skill (there was zero mention of this skill in the job description). They shared nothing about themselves, their background, credentials (or lack thereof!). Towards the end of the interview, I was told that I would not be allowed to do freelance work or run my own independent consulting business, and not only that; I would have to give them my clients. From a business perspective, I can understand not wanting your employees competing with you, however, requiring them to give you their clients is another level of unprofessionalism! I don’t know what sane person would agree to this. It was also clear in their response that I would not be compensated for essentially “selling” them my freelance portfolio -- not to mention the fact that my clients would have to agree to this? I have spent the past 5 years creating and building these relationships and they were just asking me to hand it over. Not only that, they claimed I am not qualified for the more senior-level position but they want to take my clients for whom I have clearly been doing senior-level work? I shared with them that this body of work is a significant part of my income and I would have to think about this (even though I knew there was no way I would work for these whack jobs). I am currently in a graduate program at a top-tier school, and I was then told by their CEO, that perhaps I should go to a “less expensive” school because that institution “costs a lot of money.” Aside from that being an extremely inappropriate comment, I could not help but sense some racially motivated undertones in this conversation. For a woman and minority-owned business, I was excited to engage their business, since I am both a woman and minority -- but they are clearly not accepting of ALL people and are extremely unethical in their practices. The entire interview experience was sketchy and in hindsight, I wonder if they were even truly looking to hire someone or this was some underhanded method of finding new business. Their design work is a joke and it is clear they are just looking to poach clients from people. That to me is an indication that they are struggling. STAY AWAY.