A former NASA researcher shared a brutal rejection e-mail she received from a recruiter after she applied for a job while trying to "branch out" in the job market. The woman who also has a master's degree in particle physics and has worked in IT, data analysis, manufacturing and at NASA said that she was sent a "rude and cruel message" by the hiring manager.
She explained that she had applied for a business development role, despite noticing that the qualifications section had truncated or missing text in the bullet points. The listed qualifications focused on experience in manufacturing and fabrication, knowledge of mechanical interfaces, blueprint reading, and proficiency in CRM and Excel. Given the tough job market, she decided to apply anyway, hoping to expand her opportunities after being laid off.
Recruiter sent me a message berating me for applying
byu/Paiu_ inrecruitinghell
However, the recruiter's response caught her off guard. They began their message by questioning whether she had even read the job description before applying.
"Did you read the position description? Only apply to positions that may be a match for your background/experience. To do otherwise is an extreme waste of everyone's time, especially the recruiter or hiring manager's time, as this all too often happens," they wrote.
The researcher was taken aback by the response and decided to reply, attaching a screenshot of the qualifications section to highlight the missing text. "I'm not sure I should have done that, to be honest, but I was completely shocked," she admitted.
Her post quickly went viral, with users rallying behind her and criticizing the recruiter's approach.
The incident has reignited debates about professionalism in hiring and how recruiters should engage with job seekers, especially in a challenging job market.
"But when it's the other way around and they want a junior position to have 12+ years experience that's not wasting anyone's time? Or a decade of experience in something that's been out for five years?" a user commented.
Another recruiter even offered to turn the tables. "Feel free to DM me his contact info. I'll send him a mismatched resume and wait for his response. As a former Director of Recruiting, I know just how to make this idiot rethink his professional career choice."
"I'll send them 30 dummy resumes during my downtime at work," the third user wrote.
