New Delhi: In an unexpected twist during a job interview, a candidate received a rejection email in the middle of a promising second-round discussion. The candidate took to Reddit to share the “hilariously unfortunate” incident.
The candidate said that the interview panel included a Senior Product Manager, a Senior Developer and the company’s Chief of Staff. This was the his second of three scheduled interviews, with the final one set to be a brief 15-minute meeting with the CTO.
The conversation was going well an hour and fifteen minutes in. The technical questions had been covered and the tone of the interview had shifted to discussing methodologies, company processes and even future possibilities. The Chief of Staff even suggested scheduling the third interview for the next Friday.
Viral Reddit post
Man receives rejection email during job interview | Image: Reddit
The Redditor was about to confirm his availability when he noticed an email notification. To his surprise, it was a rejection email from the company’s Workday system. Though caught off guard, he mentioned the email to the interview panel.
The interviewers reacted with shock. For a few moments, no one spoke. The Senior Developer, confused, asked the Senior Product Manager, “What other candidates are left? I thought he was the last?” The Chief of Staff looked equally stunned and started typing rapidly, clearly trying to find an explanation.
After a few awkward moments, the Chief of Staff told the candidate, “I’m not sure what’s going on. I’ll get back to you by the end of the week.” The Zoom call ended abruptly.
“So I’m thinking someone’s friend just got hired and no one told the Chief of Staff, or the role got closed due to budget and again, no one told the Chief of Staff. Either way… hilariously unfortunate,” the Redditor said.
Netizens took to the comments section to share similar instances.
One user said, “I remember an interview I had that went okay, but right after I got home (half hour drive) I saw the rejection e-mail.” Another wrote, “I interviewed a while back with a guy who I had known for a bit but we never got the chance to work together. On a Friday I interviewed and he said to expect a call next week to schedule the next round. Well, over the weekend I get the typical workday rejection email so I reach out and turns out it was just the recruiter making a mistake.”
Yet another user asked, “Do you know for sure that you have been rejected rather than somebody screwing up with workday?” To this, the Redditor replied, “I’m on the fence truthfully. There was another user in this thread who claimed it wasn’t possible for me to be rejected without the group deciding it. I did a little digging and it is technically possible if their Workday is configured in a particular fashion. They did seem genuinely upset and caught off-guard. So 70/30 rejected/accepted.”
