An applicant in Britain has sparked outrage online after receiving an automated rejection email from National Grid just three minutes after submitting his application.
The candidate, who shared his experience on Reddit, said they spent a significant amount of time tailoring a cover letter for the position. They then received an initial email confirmation from National Grid thanking them for their interest and stating that applications would be assessed within 14 days. .
However, just three minutes later they received a follow-up email informing them that their application had been unsuccessful.
The user shared the screenshot of the test email with the caption: “I got rejected 3 minutes after applying for a position. I spent a few hours writing a cover letter only to be automatically rejected by a bot. I love the current UK labor market,”.
Got rejected 3 minutes after applying for a position
byu/ParkingMetre informs annoying
The event drew attention to the increasing reliance on automated screening tools in hiring.
The automated response prompted a flood of responses from social media users.
“Yes, I did this on a website for a local mine. I spent 35 minutes signing up and uploading my resume, but the website did something weird and I had to fix it manually. Then I clicked submit and I immediately got a message email saying you weren't a good fit for me. It was a forklift driver job and I have over 15 years of experience. I was a bit angry,” said one user.
“This is AI (or automated) resume checking at work. They have specific requirements or keywords they are looking for. If the software determines you don't meet them, it automatically deletes your app. A human never even looks at it It's actually this way now at all major companies,” wrote another user.
Although National Grid declined to comment on the specific case, they confirmed that pre-screening questions are used to shortlist candidates before job interviews. The system can automatically reject applicants who answer certain questions negatively.
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