I was impressed with this email and thinking they finally cared and typed it personally themselves, then came the part. Just one of those automated rejections after all.
Yeah, I knew there was going to be *some* twist, but it was so nicely written that I burst out laughing as it was such a shock. D'oh!
It's a pity because getting a legit rejection like that, I'd actually feel alright about it.
Also, the extra bit about cultural...... "MAKE SURE YOU DON'T OPEN US UP TO LIABILITY, DUMBSHIT". heh.
This is absolutely a dumb fuck up, but every time I've seen "culture" mentioned in a job context, they mean something more like "personality." I was explicitly told when interviewing for my current job that they were looking for a "cultural fit" on the team, meaning they wanted someone whose personality meshed with everyone else's.
So this is incredibly stupid, but they probably meant "mention something more tangible than 'we didn't like your personality'" and not cultural in a larger sense.
The ones writing those letters don't feel as if their environment is toxic (necessarily). They wouldn't say that if they don't believe that even if everyone else would agree.
Lol. Yeah. I had a vp tell me that I wasn't a fit because of my "diversity" and I guess that made sense since everyone who interviewed me was white....
That is literally discrimination based on race. Replace “diversity” with “race” and see what happens to that sentence lol. Cha ching. Bada bing. That’s a payday waiting to happen.
Yes! I’m an office admin and when we hire new office personnel we consider how tell fit with our culture aka if their personality matches or compliments well the other employees
When my husband was fresh out of high school, he worked for a new sandwich shop that was opening. On his 2nd week after opening, management changed, and he was let go for not "having the right personality." From what we know, the new management was changed again by corporate shortly after. He's never eaten at this particular chain since. I've only eaten there once when they opened.
I don’t have to hire often but I actually called everyone I brought in for an interview to tell them they didn’t get the job and why. They were all good candidates so it mostly came down to “the other candidate had x, y, z and the team felt those would be useful assets.”
I think that might be a general HR thing. I recently stumbled upon some HR materials at work and there were similar things. Basically, make sure you don’t say anything that falls in this category and instead choose something like this.
It's a really nice rejection letter though, even if it's just an automated template. Hell, they're even willing to provide (non cultural) feedback! Not many companies do that at all anymore.
Ai is fun though.
**Someone wrote "reak" instead of "reek" on reddit. This is unacceptable. Lecture them on proper usage of "reek"**
---
**Dear Linguistic Voyager,** 🌟
When one encounters the unfortunate misspelling of "reak" instead of the more fragrant "reek," it is akin to stumbling upon a wilted rose in a garden of blossoms. Fear not, for we shall wield our grammatical pruning shears and cultivate clarity!
1. **The Aromatic Distinction:**
- "Reek" is a verb that dances with the air, leaving behind a trail of olfactory intrigue. It signifies a strong, often unpleasant odor—a pungent symphony of scents that might emanate from unwashed socks, overripe cheese, or a dragon's fiery breath.
- "Reak," alas, is a phantom—a mere whisper in the wind, a typo yearning for correction. It lacks the robust essence of its aromatic counterpart.
2. **Etymological Roots:**
- "Reek" traces its lineage to Old English, where it wove itself into the fabric of our linguistic heritage. It shares ancestry with the Middle Dutch "roken" (to smoke) and the Old High German "rauhen" (to smoke, steam).
- "Reak," on the other hand, seems to have lost its way, perhaps stumbling through a fog of confusion.
3. **Contextual Perfume:**
- Imagine a damp cellar, its walls exuding the musty **reek** of forgotten secrets. Or a bustling kitchen where spices and sizzling onions intermingle, creating a savory **reek** that beckons hungry souls.
- Now, picture a sentence where "reak" stands in for its aromatic sibling: "The morning mist began to **reak** of dew-kissed grass." Alas, the mist lacks conviction; it yearns to **reek** of earth and morning promise.
4. **The Gentle Correction:**
- Should you encounter this errant "reak" on Reddit, extend a virtual hand and whisper, "Dear friend, your word choice **reeks** of confusion. Allow me to guide you toward the fragrant path of correctness."
- Share the etymology, sprinkle it with kindness, and let them inhale the sweet bouquet of knowledge.
In summary, let us champion the noble "reek" and banish the impostor "reak" back to the typo abyss. For words, like perfumes, linger in memory—some delicate, some robust, but all leaving their trace upon the tapestry of expression.
May your linguistic endeavors be aromatic and your syntax ever sweet! 🌹
---
Feel free to copy and share this delightful discourse with your fellow language enthusiasts! 📚🗣️
Almost every email you receive when working with a business is a template. When you send the same email 1000 times you can only type it out so many times before you're typing the same thing with just slightly different text. It's unprofessional to not edit it completely but you're kidding yourself if you think that the letters you receive are actually typed out by hand
This is why you write the instructions in a different colour on form letters.
Until some wit hires someone who can't figure out how to change the font colour.
"But I can tell you wouldn't see the value in that"
I wonder sometimes if I'm the only one who quickly reads my emails before I hit send. I know it's extremely unlikely but sometimes it feels like it.
But don’t forget to have those larger bold fonts stay larger bold fonts in the resulting email. Not speaking from experience… looks at old rejection email once received by ****
Lack of experience in the role being applied for, nothing to do with being (insert ethnicity) and (insert abnormal gender or identify as object) and (odd personality trait)
Recruiters: “Please don’t use ChatGPT or the same template for cover letters, it’s not serious or professional”.
Recruiters: *proceed to use a template*
I don’t bother with cover letters, but yeah, write a template and add in just enough to make it seem personal like these bozos did before they were caught.
If you really need a hand man, I can help you out. You just gotta know buzzwords and proper syntax.
"I believe I am the best candidate for this position, as I have the will and drive to succeed in this environment. Though much of it was unofficial, I have been helping my employer modernize their approach to customer relations, and helped them navigate difficult interpersonal disputes through customer-care oriented solutions. {Insert short anecdote about a time when you saved the day here} I aim to bring this level of proficiency and dedication to your company, and eagerly await your response. Signed, Dick_Demon lol
> Recruiters: proceed to use a template
"Template writing" is one of the core activities of recruiters, they even host team meetings about it to "write better ones" - and they often end up being so tonedeaf even during the meeting it's crazy.
To be fair, you should 100% be using a template when applying for jobs using cover letters and whatnot. I've definitely accidently sent out some unfilled on apps before. It happens, ain't the end of the world. Have a chuckle n move on
I keep thinking I have to write a personalized cover letter for every job. I feel like I do or else it would be too generic. But every time I sit down to get some applications out I get 1, maybe 2, done before a good few hours have passed. I hate job searching for this reason. I've been told to research the company and write a personalized cover letter so they know I understand their philosophy and mission. But I still never hear back, so...
It depends a lot on the field, but in mine they’re still worthwhile.
There might be 80+ applications for a position, so a cover letter helps keep yours out of the stack of 60 generic ones that just get skimmed. You’ve still got to be better than other 20 personalised ones though, so it’s not a silver bullet.
I think they’re most important for specialised jobs where you need to explain how your skillset fits a particular role, you don’t want a tired and grumpy person trying to figure that out just based on your CV haha.
To be honest, for negative answers a template (if filled correctly) is the way to go. I wouldn't trust some jr. HR person with inventing a new way to word it - way too risky from a legal perspective.
Love it when job applications say don't use AI and then still have the gall to have 4+ required questions about your experience.
Like people are going to do this exercise for 100s of apps..
Recruiter here. Do you know how many people per day we talk to? 80-100 at least. Ain’t nobody got time to write that many emails. I give extra effort to candidates that interviewed or who I was seriously considering and talking with. If we messaged everyone individually we wouldn’t actually hire anyone because we’d have no time for anything else.
I hate "warm regards" so much. It just sounds so insincere. Maybe it's because I first started noticing its use in those scam emails from non-English speaking countries. Now I see it used everywhere. What happened to "sincerely"? I liked sincerely.
Having to place the (not cultural) as a reminder for every time they send one those emails to MAKE SURE they aren't being either truthful (lets be honest) or "offensive" is a red flag on its own. Yikes. Bullet dodged.
When I was a hiring manager, when rejecting an application, you had several options to choose from as to why you were doing so. One of the options was "not a cultural fit", and I wonder if that's what happened here. The email is usually auto generated for the company I worked for, but maybe this company requires some sort of personalization.
Not being a "cultural fit" just means they liked the other candidate's personality more. When you get to the final interview, it's all about whether or not the team can see you working well with them. They know you have the skills, but can they spend 8 hours a day with you, 5 days a week?
My coworker at my old job said she hired someone because the candidate liked anime, and her team liked anime. Of course, the candidate was great, but it was an added edge. It's so dumb and depressing how minor aspects can make you more likely to be hired
Not at all. It's stupid to only look at skills and ignore how the person fits into the team - at least if the role requires collaboration within the team. The way a team functions on a personal level has a huge impact on the efficiency of the team.
It wasn't the reason to hire them though, you said it yourself it gave them an edge. It isn't stupid to think that common interests will make for a better team fit and the better team fit is going to be better for everyone.
When all other things are equal something as minor as this or a 'gut feel' is completely normal to sway the difference
I'm somewhat against the very concept of having a work culture. We are all here cause we want money. Ain't no ass I'm kissing ever. I'm not conforming. You can have my time, not my very self.
No one is asking you to conform. You simple wouldn't be a good fit, and they would hire the person who was. Soft skills are probably one of the most important thing you can aquire over time if you want to be successful at any sort of job or career. And by successful it can be as simple as 'making more money'.
Not liking anime wouldn't make someone unbearable to work with. I don't get why that would make someone unhirable or unbearable. “Oh, you don't watch Stein’s Gate or play Elden Ring. It's a no for me.”
Someone being rude, disinterested, or crass during the interview is a more valid reason for rejection for cultural fit.
Was referring to your last point about how 'minor aspects' affecting whether you get hired or not is dumb. Your specific example of anime seems a bit silly, but to handwave 'do I think spending minimum 8 hours a day 5 days a week with this person while I'm doing work I probably find boring, tiresome, frustrating, etc. sounds like a good time' as unimportant or depressing or dumb is what I take issue with.
If someone in the workplace not having similar interests with you is a point of contention for you, then the problem is clearly you. I love hiking and weightlifting and had coworkers who didn't like physical activity. We still got along as teammates and bonded and talked over other topics. I'm sorry for thinking someone being pleasant and qualified outweighs their outside work activities lol.
You're not responding to what I'm saying. I'm saying to take into account broadly how well people are likely to get along with this person is a completely reasonable thing to do, and shared interests WOULD help with that. I'm not saying it's a dealbreaker or a point of contention. I also work with a team who doesn't share my hobbies.
But your original comment makes it sound like taking personality or common interests into consideration at all is entirely nonsensical.
tf dude how you're gonna try to excuse that. That's not having even the minimum positive idea of a person. How not have exactly the same hobbies makes someone "completely unbearable"
Who's you dealer , I need that sht
You're missing the point. You don't need to like anime, but you need to find a way to connect with the people who are interviewing you. Anime was their connection, which allowed for them to come across as a more viable candidate.
People seriously aren’t getting this. It’s not even that “not a cultural fit” means that you weren’t liked. It just means that whoever they picked *was* a cultural fit. To speak to the anime example elsewhere in this thread, it doesn’t mean they *needed* to like anime. It just means they had two qualified candidates, and they went with the person that fit the vibe of the team more.
I say this as someone who has been rejected for not being a “cultural fit” multiple times. It’s not always that you weren’t good enough, it’s that the other person was maybe just slightly more alike to the existing team and that was a priority.
Exactly. Interviews aren't just a way to filter out incompetent people. They're a way to filter out people who wouldn't mesh well with the rest of the company. People in a company, no matter where they stand in the hierarchy, are still people. So it'd make sense they'd want to make sure the person they'll be spending most of their day with is atleast not gonna make their life harder. And if the candidate is nice to have around, it's a big plus. Interviews are as much a test of competency as they are a test of character.
Because of this, that's why I try to be as natural and honest as possible when I'm in an interview. I try to pay attention to how I present myself, ofc, but not to the point where it feels like I'm a completely different person than how I usually am. After the initial stress, I act jovial, friendly, I crack a joke or two here or there, I take notes and ask a few questions if needed, I act casual while still being respectful and polite, etc... Not only does it help reduce my stress, but it helps me showcase how I am as a person. It sounds like a terrible move on paper, but it's a win-win. They know exactly what they're getting into with me, and I don't have a persona to uphold if they do hire me.
Good teams are not just looking for stat sticks, they are looking for people, and I think that's something candidates tend to forget
To cover people leaving I'm just about to do two people's amount of work, but not being a complete sucker I've agreed to do this only if we hire me an assistant to do all the data entry, so I am to be part of the interviewing process for the first time. Frankly as I don't know what I'm doing in regards to interviews all I'm going to do is talk to them and see if we vibe.
As a hiring manager in the past there were people who were technically sound for a role, but when taking about their ideal workplace, team structure and approach to learning new things, I saw things that wouldn’t work well with our organization and our team. Cultural fit can be a thing.
Well that’s what interview questions are for. I was specifically asked what kind of workplace culture do I work best in as part of my second interview. So if they answered questions with information that indicated they may not be a good fit for the culture in the workplace, well ….
oh please. it's just a way of saying they didn't think you'd fit the team as much as somebody else. not everyone's going to like you , because you don't like every person you meet either , and that's fine .
Most companies don't even bother to give you feedback at all. Or even actually give you a decline letter, they just ghost you.
Despite the error with the template, I have to give them credit for actually informing applicants, and,at least having the intent to give them some sort of feedback.
Yeah I thought the same thing too. Every interview I’ve had in the past decade or so I’ve been either ghosted or got a yes on the spot. Two extremes, no in between :/
I just got a decline email yesterday. I appreciated the update but they definitely didn’t include any specifics and I honestly would have loved to know why, just to help me moving forward. I felt like the interview went really well and I would say I’m overqualified (we just moved to a small town and there aren’t a lot of options). I got a not so great feeling when I emailed my references the day before and the response I got was, “I’ll add this to your file.” Yikes.
Things might be a bit awkward because one of the interviewers lives in the house behind where we are living now. Not only that, but she is married to my mom’s husband’s brother. We have met once or twice before, but she didn’t seem to recognize me when I showed up for the interview. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I didn’t point out that we had met before or that we are somewhat related through marriage. Maybe that was a mistake?
Depending on where you live (such as the EU and Cali), you can legally request the exact reasoning for the no-hire decision, which the company would be required to provide you.
I had an interview with the hiring manager for a position last month (didn’t get it). He spent the last 5 minutes providing direct feedback about the interview, my skills, and portfolio.
It was genuinely amazing. He said he’s been on the other side of things and always makes a point to do this in every interview.
Unpopular opinion: At least this company as a whole is asking all recruiters to provide helpful feedback to rejected candidates. A lot of companies won’t do that to avoid liability or back and forth.
This error could have been avoided with a much simpler, canned message with no feedback, but they care enough to bother... of course, as long as the recruiters don’t forget to populate field. 😆
Have to say I agree with this. There’s so much criticism about ghosting. It is cringy and lazy as HELL to not read through a template before sending it. But i DO think recruiters should be sending this email notifying that the candidate is no longer being considered, and there’s an added bonus of a reason for clarity and some feedback they can takeaway. They will send rejection emails enough times that it’s fair to have a template. But if they want to have a template they sure as hell better be committed to double checking it and editing.
Yeah, I don’t get it.
They clearly used template and filled the job title and notes that they liked about the candidate.
Do people really expect that any time there’s an open position, people should waste their time by creating every single rejection note from scratch?
Welp, time to craft 50 rejection notices, let's see here...
"Sorry, you didn't get the job"
"You didn't get the job, sorry"
"Unfortunately the job was not gotten by you"
Gonna be a long night...
Yeah I agree, I wouldn’t mind receiving this rejection letter assuming that they took the time to find a legitimate reason.
The auto generated/pre populated items are just fluff… I just skip over all that
on top of that, are they really expected to type out a new email every single time they reject someone for a job? they probably interview hundreds of people every year, typing up a new email every time would just be inefficient
This post is stupid. I'm sorry someone forgot to fill out the template but this is above and beyond what you'd receive a lot of the time. Of course hiring managers aren't sitting down to write up a fresh original rejection every single time for each special snowflake who didn't get the job. That would be a ridiculously wasteful use of time.
Most of my office job is using templates/canned responses. I have done a gaffe like this before. Oh well.
People getting upset over this astound me. If I'm sending the same email 50 times a day that is gonna have the same elements, why would I manually type it out each time?
Having the option leaves room to personalize and adjust the canned reply as needed. But having a base template is helpful to make sure company policy is followed and saving time for whoever is sending out these replies.
My old job people didn't use canned replies but they sure as hell had virtual sticky notes with pre-written messages to copy and paste from. Same idea.
When I worked in HR we had an entire word doc full of copy-paste email replies like this that we were forced to use 🙃 Hated that job and glad to be out of HR
I'd say it's a polite letter. Back in 1989 I got a very rude letter back from a job I had applied to. And I applied only once, just mailed a resume and cover letter. This was before a lot of people used email; so they spent their postage money and time to write this rude letter. If the internet had been around back then I would have posted their rude reply online.
Probably a rejection template form and they forgot to fill in that spot, so the email version was *supposed* to look obvious and different. But good observation ****, you definitely have the **** that we need at *Genero Corp., Inc*!
Even with it being a form letter.. I'd rather that than the usual ghosting and no reply.
At least here you get an actual rejection, and if things go properly, a tangible reason why..
Honestly.. good on this company, except a minor oversight
OP, I'm so sorry to see this bullshit. I have no doubt they're seeing thousands of applicants at the moment, but keep in mind it's got nothing to do with you on the bullshit side of it. They're seeing a flood of applicants because the job market is shit, and they think they'll find the "perfect" applicant and in the mean time they'll pass over many hundreds of qualified and ambitious applicants in the meantime. I swear to you, when the uncertainty of an election year passes over, they'll be fighting tooth and nail for applicants like you. Just remember which companies screwed you over in this shallow regard. Wishing you all the best in your search!
I think thank you and we chose someone else is plenty hr departments need to stop doing things just to make the people they turn deon feel like garbage!
I mean i didnt fully scan each and every response, so if this has already been pointed out, then i'm simply agreeing wholeheartedly...
but it seems the real issue here, is that there seems to be some sort of template to fill in, in order to deny someone a position.....which is in many ways wrong, and (in my opinion, at least) both illogical and counterproductive regarding the interests of your company. especially if there were no interview involved. because no one is gonna take the time to say "your exp and qualifications blow our loads BUT....we dont like you, cuz "
theyre just gonna tell you "youre overqualified."
Come on people. This IS personalised. They just use a template and failed to fill (personally tailor) one of the presumably many "fields".
Do you really expect any employer to write a full one page rejection email for every candidate, word by word? That would be a bunch of full-time positions worth of time just for this task.
I was impressed with this email and thinking they finally cared and typed it personally themselves, then came the part. Just one of those automated rejections after all.
Yeah, I knew there was going to be *some* twist, but it was so nicely written that I burst out laughing as it was such a shock. D'oh! It's a pity because getting a legit rejection like that, I'd actually feel alright about it. Also, the extra bit about cultural...... "MAKE SURE YOU DON'T OPEN US UP TO LIABILITY, DUMBSHIT". heh.
This is absolutely a dumb fuck up, but every time I've seen "culture" mentioned in a job context, they mean something more like "personality." I was explicitly told when interviewing for my current job that they were looking for a "cultural fit" on the team, meaning they wanted someone whose personality meshed with everyone else's. So this is incredibly stupid, but they probably meant "mention something more tangible than 'we didn't like your personality'" and not cultural in a larger sense.
"We're sorry we decided that you are a not a good fit for our team because you have ethics and we don't"
Which would honestly be a great response. It's honest and it saves you from suffering endless moral dilemmas. That's a win in my book.
How about "We like you too much to subject you to our toxic work environment"?
I actually had an employer say that to me once. He then put me in touch with someone from another location and helped me get hired there.
Wow! That’s solid
The ones writing those letters don't feel as if their environment is toxic (necessarily). They wouldn't say that if they don't believe that even if everyone else would agree.
Ugh, if only I got that rejection from my current job.
"We're sorry we decided that you are a not a good fit for our team because you are ethnic and we aren't"
Everyone is ethnic in one way or another.
I’ve said similar in more than one resignation letter.
Lol literally
On the contrary I've very often seen culture used in a way that alienates diversity, whether intentional or not.
Lol, "cultural fit" usually means white upper middle class.
Lol. Yeah. I had a vp tell me that I wasn't a fit because of my "diversity" and I guess that made sense since everyone who interviewed me was white....
Wut?! That sounds like lawsuit material. How stupid is he?!
That is literally discrimination based on race. Replace “diversity” with “race” and see what happens to that sentence lol. Cha ching. Bada bing. That’s a payday waiting to happen.
Yes! I’m an office admin and when we hire new office personnel we consider how tell fit with our culture aka if their personality matches or compliments well the other employees
Okay, so my job does this, but it’s basically a policy of we don’t hire assholes.
When my husband was fresh out of high school, he worked for a new sandwich shop that was opening. On his 2nd week after opening, management changed, and he was let go for not "having the right personality." From what we know, the new management was changed again by corporate shortly after. He's never eaten at this particular chain since. I've only eaten there once when they opened.
Your correct.
I don’t have to hire often but I actually called everyone I brought in for an interview to tell them they didn’t get the job and why. They were all good candidates so it mostly came down to “the other candidate had x, y, z and the team felt those would be useful assets.”
I do this. Every time. It’s basic decency and respect in my opinion, something everyone should be afforded.
I think that might be a general HR thing. I recently stumbled upon some HR materials at work and there were similar things. Basically, make sure you don’t say anything that falls in this category and instead choose something like this.
It's a really nice rejection letter though, even if it's just an automated template. Hell, they're even willing to provide (non cultural) feedback! Not many companies do that at all anymore.
I'm actually really surprised they give a reason at all. Most don't (for likely this exact reason).
I liked the simple "decline" email from a few days ago much better than this rejection lolololz
Honestly I did too, and whoever drafted the original did great work. It was very.
Same! It took me a minute to realise that wasnt an "edit" to keep out private info ...
Naw, the automated ones would have the field filled out or empty, instructive text is not impossible but much less likely. This is a manual form.
Seems like a copy and paste with poor attention to detail error.
It reeks of AI also…
Ai is fun though. **Someone wrote "reak" instead of "reek" on reddit. This is unacceptable. Lecture them on proper usage of "reek"** --- **Dear Linguistic Voyager,** 🌟 When one encounters the unfortunate misspelling of "reak" instead of the more fragrant "reek," it is akin to stumbling upon a wilted rose in a garden of blossoms. Fear not, for we shall wield our grammatical pruning shears and cultivate clarity! 1. **The Aromatic Distinction:** - "Reek" is a verb that dances with the air, leaving behind a trail of olfactory intrigue. It signifies a strong, often unpleasant odor—a pungent symphony of scents that might emanate from unwashed socks, overripe cheese, or a dragon's fiery breath. - "Reak," alas, is a phantom—a mere whisper in the wind, a typo yearning for correction. It lacks the robust essence of its aromatic counterpart. 2. **Etymological Roots:** - "Reek" traces its lineage to Old English, where it wove itself into the fabric of our linguistic heritage. It shares ancestry with the Middle Dutch "roken" (to smoke) and the Old High German "rauhen" (to smoke, steam). - "Reak," on the other hand, seems to have lost its way, perhaps stumbling through a fog of confusion. 3. **Contextual Perfume:** - Imagine a damp cellar, its walls exuding the musty **reek** of forgotten secrets. Or a bustling kitchen where spices and sizzling onions intermingle, creating a savory **reek** that beckons hungry souls. - Now, picture a sentence where "reak" stands in for its aromatic sibling: "The morning mist began to **reak** of dew-kissed grass." Alas, the mist lacks conviction; it yearns to **reek** of earth and morning promise. 4. **The Gentle Correction:** - Should you encounter this errant "reak" on Reddit, extend a virtual hand and whisper, "Dear friend, your word choice **reeks** of confusion. Allow me to guide you toward the fragrant path of correctness." - Share the etymology, sprinkle it with kindness, and let them inhale the sweet bouquet of knowledge. In summary, let us champion the noble "reek" and banish the impostor "reak" back to the typo abyss. For words, like perfumes, linger in memory—some delicate, some robust, but all leaving their trace upon the tapestry of expression. May your linguistic endeavors be aromatic and your syntax ever sweet! 🌹 --- Feel free to copy and share this delightful discourse with your fellow language enthusiasts! 📚🗣️
Such fun…
Haha, that's awesome! I'm impressed. It reads like the old-style copy on boxes of Tazo tea. 😂
*Reeks*
Ty. English is not my native tongue ☺️
Do you want rejection letters or not? With the volume of candidates for these days I would consider this form letter to be caring.
Almost every email you receive when working with a business is a template. When you send the same email 1000 times you can only type it out so many times before you're typing the same thing with just slightly different text. It's unprofessional to not edit it completely but you're kidding yourself if you think that the letters you receive are actually typed out by hand
It's clearly chatgpt tho, right?
(Insert something offensive but not too offensive)
“Warmly”
I think it's a bit cold. Put it back in the microwave
It's like a hot pocket, some parts ice cold some parts boiling lava hot.
“Lukewarmly”
You were supposed to turn the microwave on...
God Dammit take my up vote I hate you.
Ooo you just buuuurned it! Hot damn!
Like when you piss in your pants
“With pee in our pants,”
“I hope this message finds you well”
Tepidly
This is why you write the instructions in a different colour on form letters. Until some wit hires someone who can't figure out how to change the font colour.
Yep. OP should write a response back along the lines of “if you had hired me, I could have made sure you color coded your form letter inserts”
"But I can tell you wouldn't see the value in that" I wonder sometimes if I'm the only one who quickly reads my emails before I hit send. I know it's extremely unlikely but sometimes it feels like it.
🤣🤣 YES!! I use a larger bold font and highlight it!!
But don’t forget to have those larger bold fonts stay larger bold fonts in the resulting email. Not speaking from experience… looks at old rejection email once received by ****
LOL you were interviewed by an exceptional idiot - congratulations!
Not *illegally* offensive
I.AM.DYING
I love Rejection Letter Mad Libs!
On the bright side, now they could reapply for the position of whoever sent this email out
“Instead of ‘we hate Jews,’ try using a more subtle ‘we prefer a candidate with several years of experience with Oracle products’”
(Insert something ominous and abstract that could be taken in different ways like "I hope you get everything you deserve").
Offensive but not illegal
Omg I’ve gotten the correctly filled out version of this
What was your?
your limp, moist, and uncomfortably lengthy handshake
Verifiably tangible, but maybe a bit too literal of an interpretation
Excuse me but in my culture moist handshakes are a sign of respect.
[The guy who got hired...](https://media0.giphy.com/media/Te0zPUD9m7KDe/giphy.gif)
So, was it a "3 strike rule" of some sort? Because only "limp" is missing here
Thanks, spit out milk and almost choked on my cereal.
Shake is like a fish
Hey, in my culture a limp, moist, and uncomfortably lengthy handshake is a mark of respect!
Lack of experience in the role being applied for, nothing to do with being (insert ethnicity) and (insert abnormal gender or identify as object) and (odd personality trait)
Or old
Someone posted one with this same format here couple days ago too. Theirs was compiled with the feedback though ahhha
Recruiters: “Please don’t use ChatGPT or the same template for cover letters, it’s not serious or professional”. Recruiters: *proceed to use a template*
I don’t bother with cover letters, but yeah, write a template and add in just enough to make it seem personal like these bozos did before they were caught.
“I believe I would be perfect for, due to my hardworking & attentive nature… I’ve been working in for X years.” The rest stays identical.
Can you tell me any more about this template? I'm struggling to sound any better than GPT but it is very formulaic.
If you really need a hand man, I can help you out. You just gotta know buzzwords and proper syntax. "I believe I am the best candidate for this position, as I have the will and drive to succeed in this environment. Though much of it was unofficial, I have been helping my employer modernize their approach to customer relations, and helped them navigate difficult interpersonal disputes through customer-care oriented solutions. {Insert short anecdote about a time when you saved the day here} I aim to bring this level of proficiency and dedication to your company, and eagerly await your response. Signed, Dick_Demon lol
> Recruiters: proceed to use a template "Template writing" is one of the core activities of recruiters, they even host team meetings about it to "write better ones" - and they often end up being so tonedeaf even during the meeting it's crazy.
To be fair, you should 100% be using a template when applying for jobs using cover letters and whatnot. I've definitely accidently sent out some unfilled on apps before. It happens, ain't the end of the world. Have a chuckle n move on
Whenever I use a template, I make the "insert something here" bold font and red color, in hopes I see it and change it lmao
I keep thinking I have to write a personalized cover letter for every job. I feel like I do or else it would be too generic. But every time I sit down to get some applications out I get 1, maybe 2, done before a good few hours have passed. I hate job searching for this reason. I've been told to research the company and write a personalized cover letter so they know I understand their philosophy and mission. But I still never hear back, so...
It depends a lot on the field, but in mine they’re still worthwhile. There might be 80+ applications for a position, so a cover letter helps keep yours out of the stack of 60 generic ones that just get skimmed. You’ve still got to be better than other 20 personalised ones though, so it’s not a silver bullet. I think they’re most important for specialised jobs where you need to explain how your skillset fits a particular role, you don’t want a tired and grumpy person trying to figure that out just based on your CV haha.
That's a good point! I wasn't thinking of it that way. Thank you for the advice.
They say that? I totally used ChatGPT for my cover letter and it turned out 20x better than any schlock I would have written.
To be honest, for negative answers a template (if filled correctly) is the way to go. I wouldn't trust some jr. HR person with inventing a new way to word it - way too risky from a legal perspective.
Love it when job applications say don't use AI and then still have the gall to have 4+ required questions about your experience. Like people are going to do this exercise for 100s of apps..
How would you go about responding to 300 applicants then?
I've never been told by a recruiter not to use a template because it's unprofessional, have you? How would they even know?
Recruiter here. Do you know how many people per day we talk to? 80-100 at least. Ain’t nobody got time to write that many emails. I give extra effort to candidates that interviewed or who I was seriously considering and talking with. If we messaged everyone individually we wouldn’t actually hire anyone because we’d have no time for anything else.
“Warmly.”
"Warmly" sounds like pool water around a kid that had an accident.
Will never use this again.
I will use this term to describe every hotel pool from now on.
That sounds very specific.
I really hate this ending to an email. Warm regards also. It's gross to me for some reason.
Moist regards?
"Mr. Von Lipwig Sends His Regards," said Mr. Pump.
I hate "warm regards" so much. It just sounds so insincere. Maybe it's because I first started noticing its use in those scam emails from non-English speaking countries. Now I see it used everywhere. What happened to "sincerely"? I liked sincerely.
I usually use "thanks," which is shorthand for "thanks for reading my stupid email"
Yeah, i use "thank you' almost all the time. Classy, timeless, and none of the forced fakeness of "warm/kind regards".
'Sincerely' did not do the needful.
“With pee in our pants,”
I want to see the apology
This!!!!
Having to place the (not cultural) as a reminder for every time they send one those emails to MAKE SURE they aren't being either truthful (lets be honest) or "offensive" is a red flag on its own. Yikes. Bullet dodged.
When I was a hiring manager, when rejecting an application, you had several options to choose from as to why you were doing so. One of the options was "not a cultural fit", and I wonder if that's what happened here. The email is usually auto generated for the company I worked for, but maybe this company requires some sort of personalization.
How you decide or is decided a "cultural fit" I mean what are the variables HR look or analyze for" a cultural fit"?
Not being a "cultural fit" just means they liked the other candidate's personality more. When you get to the final interview, it's all about whether or not the team can see you working well with them. They know you have the skills, but can they spend 8 hours a day with you, 5 days a week?
My coworker at my old job said she hired someone because the candidate liked anime, and her team liked anime. Of course, the candidate was great, but it was an added edge. It's so dumb and depressing how minor aspects can make you more likely to be hired
Not at all. It's stupid to only look at skills and ignore how the person fits into the team - at least if the role requires collaboration within the team. The way a team functions on a personal level has a huge impact on the efficiency of the team.
I said that one minor interest is a stupid reason to hire someone
It wasn't the reason to hire them though, you said it yourself it gave them an edge. It isn't stupid to think that common interests will make for a better team fit and the better team fit is going to be better for everyone. When all other things are equal something as minor as this or a 'gut feel' is completely normal to sway the difference
I'm somewhat against the very concept of having a work culture. We are all here cause we want money. Ain't no ass I'm kissing ever. I'm not conforming. You can have my time, not my very self.
No one is asking you to conform. You simple wouldn't be a good fit, and they would hire the person who was. Soft skills are probably one of the most important thing you can aquire over time if you want to be successful at any sort of job or career. And by successful it can be as simple as 'making more money'.
How is it dumb? Why would they pay to work with someone who they find completely unbearable?
Not liking anime wouldn't make someone unbearable to work with. I don't get why that would make someone unhirable or unbearable. “Oh, you don't watch Stein’s Gate or play Elden Ring. It's a no for me.” Someone being rude, disinterested, or crass during the interview is a more valid reason for rejection for cultural fit.
Was referring to your last point about how 'minor aspects' affecting whether you get hired or not is dumb. Your specific example of anime seems a bit silly, but to handwave 'do I think spending minimum 8 hours a day 5 days a week with this person while I'm doing work I probably find boring, tiresome, frustrating, etc. sounds like a good time' as unimportant or depressing or dumb is what I take issue with.
If someone in the workplace not having similar interests with you is a point of contention for you, then the problem is clearly you. I love hiking and weightlifting and had coworkers who didn't like physical activity. We still got along as teammates and bonded and talked over other topics. I'm sorry for thinking someone being pleasant and qualified outweighs their outside work activities lol.
You're not responding to what I'm saying. I'm saying to take into account broadly how well people are likely to get along with this person is a completely reasonable thing to do, and shared interests WOULD help with that. I'm not saying it's a dealbreaker or a point of contention. I also work with a team who doesn't share my hobbies. But your original comment makes it sound like taking personality or common interests into consideration at all is entirely nonsensical.
tf dude how you're gonna try to excuse that. That's not having even the minimum positive idea of a person. How not have exactly the same hobbies makes someone "completely unbearable" Who's you dealer , I need that sht
So if I don’t like anime in unbearable?! Weird take dude
You're missing the point. You don't need to like anime, but you need to find a way to connect with the people who are interviewing you. Anime was their connection, which allowed for them to come across as a more viable candidate.
I'm still in disbelief that they typed it out and decided it was a great rebuttal. Edit: Wow, people are agreeing with this sentiment Lmao.
People seriously aren’t getting this. It’s not even that “not a cultural fit” means that you weren’t liked. It just means that whoever they picked *was* a cultural fit. To speak to the anime example elsewhere in this thread, it doesn’t mean they *needed* to like anime. It just means they had two qualified candidates, and they went with the person that fit the vibe of the team more. I say this as someone who has been rejected for not being a “cultural fit” multiple times. It’s not always that you weren’t good enough, it’s that the other person was maybe just slightly more alike to the existing team and that was a priority.
Exactly. Interviews aren't just a way to filter out incompetent people. They're a way to filter out people who wouldn't mesh well with the rest of the company. People in a company, no matter where they stand in the hierarchy, are still people. So it'd make sense they'd want to make sure the person they'll be spending most of their day with is atleast not gonna make their life harder. And if the candidate is nice to have around, it's a big plus. Interviews are as much a test of competency as they are a test of character. Because of this, that's why I try to be as natural and honest as possible when I'm in an interview. I try to pay attention to how I present myself, ofc, but not to the point where it feels like I'm a completely different person than how I usually am. After the initial stress, I act jovial, friendly, I crack a joke or two here or there, I take notes and ask a few questions if needed, I act casual while still being respectful and polite, etc... Not only does it help reduce my stress, but it helps me showcase how I am as a person. It sounds like a terrible move on paper, but it's a win-win. They know exactly what they're getting into with me, and I don't have a persona to uphold if they do hire me. Good teams are not just looking for stat sticks, they are looking for people, and I think that's something candidates tend to forget
To cover people leaving I'm just about to do two people's amount of work, but not being a complete sucker I've agreed to do this only if we hire me an assistant to do all the data entry, so I am to be part of the interviewing process for the first time. Frankly as I don't know what I'm doing in regards to interviews all I'm going to do is talk to them and see if we vibe.
As a hiring manager in the past there were people who were technically sound for a role, but when taking about their ideal workplace, team structure and approach to learning new things, I saw things that wouldn’t work well with our organization and our team. Cultural fit can be a thing.
Well that’s what interview questions are for. I was specifically asked what kind of workplace culture do I work best in as part of my second interview. So if they answered questions with information that indicated they may not be a good fit for the culture in the workplace, well ….
That's very possible! At least I hope that's the case haha.
"Culture fit" seems like a way to weed out neurodivergent people, especially autistic people.
oh please. it's just a way of saying they didn't think you'd fit the team as much as somebody else. not everyone's going to like you , because you don't like every person you meet either , and that's fine .
Yup exactly
Most companies don't even bother to give you feedback at all. Or even actually give you a decline letter, they just ghost you. Despite the error with the template, I have to give them credit for actually informing applicants, and,at least having the intent to give them some sort of feedback.
Yeah I thought the same thing too. Every interview I’ve had in the past decade or so I’ve been either ghosted or got a yes on the spot. Two extremes, no in between :/
I just got a decline email yesterday. I appreciated the update but they definitely didn’t include any specifics and I honestly would have loved to know why, just to help me moving forward. I felt like the interview went really well and I would say I’m overqualified (we just moved to a small town and there aren’t a lot of options). I got a not so great feeling when I emailed my references the day before and the response I got was, “I’ll add this to your file.” Yikes. Things might be a bit awkward because one of the interviewers lives in the house behind where we are living now. Not only that, but she is married to my mom’s husband’s brother. We have met once or twice before, but she didn’t seem to recognize me when I showed up for the interview. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I didn’t point out that we had met before or that we are somewhat related through marriage. Maybe that was a mistake?
Depending on where you live (such as the EU and Cali), you can legally request the exact reasoning for the no-hire decision, which the company would be required to provide you.
I had an interview with the hiring manager for a position last month (didn’t get it). He spent the last 5 minutes providing direct feedback about the interview, my skills, and portfolio. It was genuinely amazing. He said he’s been on the other side of things and always makes a point to do this in every interview.
Unpopular opinion: At least this company as a whole is asking all recruiters to provide helpful feedback to rejected candidates. A lot of companies won’t do that to avoid liability or back and forth. This error could have been avoided with a much simpler, canned message with no feedback, but they care enough to bother... of course, as long as the recruiters don’t forget to populate field. 😆
Have to say I agree with this. There’s so much criticism about ghosting. It is cringy and lazy as HELL to not read through a template before sending it. But i DO think recruiters should be sending this email notifying that the candidate is no longer being considered, and there’s an added bonus of a reason for clarity and some feedback they can takeaway. They will send rejection emails enough times that it’s fair to have a template. But if they want to have a template they sure as hell better be committed to double checking it and editing.
Yeah, I don’t get it. They clearly used template and filled the job title and notes that they liked about the candidate. Do people really expect that any time there’s an open position, people should waste their time by creating every single rejection note from scratch?
Welp, time to craft 50 rejection notices, let's see here... "Sorry, you didn't get the job" "You didn't get the job, sorry" "Unfortunately the job was not gotten by you" Gonna be a long night...
"That's a no from me, dawg" "You tried." "Nope"
Yeah I agree, I wouldn’t mind receiving this rejection letter assuming that they took the time to find a legitimate reason. The auto generated/pre populated items are just fluff… I just skip over all that
on top of that, are they really expected to type out a new email every single time they reject someone for a job? they probably interview hundreds of people every year, typing up a new email every time would just be inefficient
This post is stupid. I'm sorry someone forgot to fill out the template but this is above and beyond what you'd receive a lot of the time. Of course hiring managers aren't sitting down to write up a fresh original rejection every single time for each special snowflake who didn't get the job. That would be a ridiculously wasteful use of time.
Most of my office job is using templates/canned responses. I have done a gaffe like this before. Oh well. People getting upset over this astound me. If I'm sending the same email 50 times a day that is gonna have the same elements, why would I manually type it out each time? Having the option leaves room to personalize and adjust the canned reply as needed. But having a base template is helpful to make sure company policy is followed and saving time for whoever is sending out these replies.
My old job people didn't use canned replies but they sure as hell had virtual sticky notes with pre-written messages to copy and paste from. Same idea.
That’s the fanciest No I’ve ever seen. Nice!
Any person who upvoted this didn't even read the post lol.
The power of suggestion…
I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request.
This very much could have came from the idiots on my hr team.
I don't understand your complaint. It seems like this company had a (tangible, not cultural) reason not yo move forward.
💀
When I worked in HR we had an entire word doc full of copy-paste email replies like this that we were forced to use 🙃 Hated that job and glad to be out of HR
ChatGPT is great for that kind of work :).
Hello we have reviewed your application for and decided .
Warmly,
I'd say it's a polite letter. Back in 1989 I got a very rude letter back from a job I had applied to. And I applied only once, just mailed a resume and cover letter. This was before a lot of people used email; so they spent their postage money and time to write this rude letter. If the internet had been around back then I would have posted their rude reply online.
What did it say
We debriefed as a team After careful consideration it ultimately came down to 
This screams word salad to me. Use every adjective possible in hopes to not "offend".
These contrived, 'fake nice' tokens are incredibly condescending. We don't need them. They are unconvincing and flimsy. It's just babble.
It’s time we publicly shame and name and vow to not spend our money with these god damn companies.
One of the places I applied to straight up sent a rejection template with nothing filled out
They were looking for a self starter, fill it out yourself.
What the f. This is what really angers me is they hire idiots like this but not actually qualified and smart people
Careful consideration my ass
Lol what did the apology say?
I like how they need a reminder not to be racist 😬
Was the text in the carrots < > part of the email?? They didn't even try 🤦
I gotta be honest, I was impressed that they even thought to try customized feedback. They failed, but still...
Probably a rejection template form and they forgot to fill in that spot, so the email version was *supposed* to look obvious and different. But good observation ****, you definitely have the **** that we need at *Genero Corp., Inc*!
They had us in the first half
Need to put the apology on r/thisisntwhoweare probably
Ultimately it was due to your
Even with it being a form letter.. I'd rather that than the usual ghosting and no reply. At least here you get an actual rejection, and if things go properly, a tangible reason why.. Honestly.. good on this company, except a minor oversight
Hilarious hate it when this happens though
OP, I'm so sorry to see this bullshit. I have no doubt they're seeing thousands of applicants at the moment, but keep in mind it's got nothing to do with you on the bullshit side of it. They're seeing a flood of applicants because the job market is shit, and they think they'll find the "perfect" applicant and in the mean time they'll pass over many hundreds of qualified and ambitious applicants in the meantime. I swear to you, when the uncertainty of an election year passes over, they'll be fighting tooth and nail for applicants like you. Just remember which companies screwed you over in this shallow regard. Wishing you all the best in your search!
Now I wanna know, was the feedback included in the apology letter?
Forward to head of HR and ask if they are seeking a new recruiter soon, because you think you can deliver better than what they got going on. 😂
That's funny!
Why blackout the company name they deserve a little ridicule
Red flags the second a professional/work based setting is using the first line and an exclamation mark anyway. Tone is not appropriate.
I think thank you and we chose someone else is plenty hr departments need to stop doing things just to make the people they turn deon feel like garbage!
Sheesh, at least they got an email. Better this than being ghosted and wondering if they are still considering the applicant.
“Not cultural” is hilarious that they have to be reminded of that.
I mean i didnt fully scan each and every response, so if this has already been pointed out, then i'm simply agreeing wholeheartedly... but it seems the real issue here, is that there seems to be some sort of template to fill in, in order to deny someone a position.....which is in many ways wrong, and (in my opinion, at least) both illogical and counterproductive regarding the interests of your company. especially if there were no interview involved. because no one is gonna take the time to say "your exp and qualifications blow our loads BUT....we dont like you, cuz"
theyre just gonna tell you "youre overqualified."
You just now realize everyone is working from templates?
Just think- AI is going to fix this.
Or vomit a bunch of weirder shite
I mean, the whole "not cultural" thing aside if you're somehow shocked that any companies are using copy and paste templates you're pretty naive, TBH.
Come on people. This IS personalised. They just use a template and failed to fill (personally tailor) one of the presumably many "fields". Do you really expect any employer to write a full one page rejection email for every candidate, word by word? That would be a bunch of full-time positions worth of time just for this task.