I applied to company because I knew someone in HR, but this ended up being the problem. HR is apparently a bit picky and they like to hire people based on certain racial, sex, gender, and political ideological/ characteristics, and not based on merit, which feels a bit off to me. prejudice based on protected class is grounds for a civil lawsuit and criminal prosecution, at least as I understand it. while I understand that with "success" comes a certain level of vanity, when that vanity extends into some kind moral superiority complex, which trickles into discriminatory hiring practices, that's a problem. fix it. or someone else will!