I applied for a Social Media Manager role that was advertised as being remote. After two interviews, I learned that About-Face’s idea of remote work is “remote until you relocate to be within commuting distance of our Los Angeles headquarters.” When I expressed that this wouldn’t be possible, the hiring manager went into a hard sell about how great living in LA is and how she knows I would love it. I let her know that while yes, I do enjoy LA and am always up to travel for business needs, I have no interest in living there and it was my understanding that this was a remote role. Her response was that they would be open to “allowing” me to work remotely for 3-6 months if I agreed to spend 1 week per month working from the LA office (which would mean covering flights and hotels at my own expense). At this point I was no longer interested; it was clearly a bait and switch as they had no intention of allowing remote work as advertised. It was also a pretty clear sign that About-Face isn’t the forward-thinking company it portrays itself as online, as most corporate roles (but especially social media in particular) can be done from anywhere.