Never work for a founder who thinks they're the Messiah.

I interviewed and met the founder of a packaging design agency when I was a young account person in 2011.

This agency now has offices in London, New York and Melbourne and claim they specialise in behaviour change - too right.

The following is what happened during this interview, and it certainly changed my behaviour for ever more, but clearly didn't change his.

The founder greeted me by commenting on my dress and said my skirt was so short he could see my underwear (not true). Yes, this was his opening comment.

He then proceeded to play games on his phone whilst I talked, only looking up when he had something to scoff at. He told me account management's job was to do what either he or the client say, and to 'never have an opinion.' After 45 minutes of this, I said I'd need to get going to my current job, in which he locked the doors to the interview room. I asked him to open them and he said "You'll leave when I decide you'll leave."

To be honest, yes, I was frightened. I was 25 years old, fairly inexperienced and a woman. He was a rich, powerful man who was yielding his power to intimidate me. I didn't know how I was going to get out of the room.

After I finally left and told my recruiter 'no way', I received an apology from the client services head (now MD). The owner himself said he wouldn't give me a job because "...his idea of account management seems to differ from yours and he was concerned that you would want to be too involved in the creative offer."

Truly unbelievable that this man, and many others like him, get more rich and powerful whilst the women they scar never properly heal. Shame on you.

Your Lesson/s : My litmus test now for asshole-spotting is if I see a photo of founder on the agency homepage or LinkedIn with microphone taped to head, on a stage, clearly spouting their narcissistic nonsense at a conference. Never work for a founder who thinks they're the Messiah. This agency fails my test.

How did you move forward?: If I could meet my younger self, I would listen to my gut and challenge him to his face, say what I really thought, and embarrass him.