From Hire to Fire: The entire HR team was fired after the manager’s resume failed the automated check

Discovery of the error

The manager was frustrated that HR was having difficulty finding suitable candidates for three months and decided to investigate further. Using a pseudonym, the manager submitted a modified resume to test the system. To his surprise, he was automatically rejected within seconds. He shared his experience on Reddit saying, “I created a new email and sent them a modified version of my resume with a fake name to see what was going on with the process and guess I got automatic rejected.”

Despite having good qualifications, the manager’s application received no human review. The situation revealed that the ATS was firing candidates without evaluation, which led to significant recruitment problems.

Immediate consequences

When he presented his findings to senior management, the impact was quickly felt. “Half of the HR department was laid off in the following weeks,” the manager noted. This decision highlights the seriousness of the error and its impact on the hiring process.

The root of the problem lay in the technical specifications of the job requirements. The company was looking for candidates with Angular knowledge, while the ATS was supposed to filter for AngularJS, an outdated framework. The manager explained: “The problem was that they were looking for an AngularJS developer while we were looking for an Angular developer (different frameworks, similar names). Such stupid mistakes must and can be corrected in a few minutes.”

Criticism of HR practices

The manager expressed frustration with the HR team’s handling of the situation. He mentioned that they kept saying that they had candidates who failed the initial exams, which later turned out to be untrue. He criticized HR professionals by saying, “People who work in HR are incredibly mediocre and lazy.” This case highlights the importance of effective hiring processes and the potential consequences of relying too heavily on automated systems without appropriate ones supervision leaves. The incident reminds companies to regularly review their recruiting tools to avoid similar situations in the future.