From Hiring to Firing: Entire HR team terminated after manager's own resume fails automated screening
hiring. This system, intended to improve the recruitment process, was automatically rejecting all job candidates, including the manager's own application.
Discovery of the Error
The manager, frustrated by the difficulty the HR department faced in finding suitable candidates over three months, decided to investigate further. Using a pseudonym, the manager submitted a modified resume to test the system. To his surprise, he was auto-rejected within seconds. He shared his experience on Reddit, stating, «I've created myself a new email and sent them a modified version of my CV with a fake name to see what was going on with the process and guess, I got auto rejected.»
Despite possessing strong qualifications, the manager's application received no human review. The situation revealed that the ATS was dismissing candidates without any evaluation, leading to major hiring issues.
Immediate Consequences
Upon presenting his findings to upper management, the repercussions were swift. «Half of the HR department was fired in the following weeks,» the manager noted. This decision emphasizes 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 The company was searching for candidates with expertise in Angular, while the ATS was set to filter for AngularJS, an outdated framework. The manager explained, «The issue was they were looking for an angularjs developer while we were looking for an Angular one (different frameworks, similar
