‘A classic case of copy paste gone wrong’: Candidate receives a hilarious rejection email, followed by an apology after HR realizes they messed up

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Apr 14, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

The interviewing process for a new job is so tedious. Nowadays you have to go through 5 interviews, 3 assignments and need a warm recommendation from the president. Seriously, things have gotten out of hand. Why is it so hard to get a job? The market is absolutely bonkers, jobs aren't paying well enough to keep up with inflation, and recruiters ghost you after 'being with you every step of the way' for 2 months. It's exhausting, disappointing, and discourages you from ever finding a job.

This candidate went through it all just to get a rejection letter via email. Yes, it was hard and demotivating, but the rejection letter wasn't actually all that bad… Until they got to a very specific section that made them gape at the screen in shock. Scroll down to find out what it was, and then what fellow job searchers had to say about it. Talk about awkward…

Then check out these employees who shared hilarious boss stories online.

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  • 01
    "We're so sorry, oops!"
    via Canva
  • 02
    A loved one received this email followed by an apology letter
    via u/saintsnshadows
  • 03
    Thank you so much for spending time interviewing with us! We really appreciate your interest in joining. and are grateful for the time and energy you invested in the process. We debriefed as a team on your candidacy for the Business Analyst position. After careful consideration of your skills and expertise, in addition to an incredibly competitive candidate pool, we've decided to pass on your candidacy
    via u/saintsnshadows
  • 04
    for this role. Though your qualifications and experience are extremely impressive, it ultimately came down to <insert tangible (not cultural) feedback for candidate> not being exactly what we're looking for. Again, we really appreciate your time and efforts and hope we can keep in touch for future opportunities that may align better with your experience. Warmly,
    via u/saintsnshadows
  • 05
    BYNXO 5 hr. ago (Insert something offensive but not too offensive) 1.1k Reply Share That-Pension 7055.5 hr. ago "Warmly" 234 Reply Share
    via u/BYNX0, u/That-Pension7055
  • 06
    jwsw2308 .5 hr. ago I was impressed with this email and thinking they finally cared and typed it personally themselves, then came the <insert ...> part. Just one of those automated rejections after all. 593 Reply Share gymnastgrrl . 4 hr. ago Yeah, I knew there was going to be some twist, but it was so nicely written that I burst out laughing as it was such a shock. D'oh!
    via u/jwsw2308, u/gymnastgrrl
  • 07
    It's a pity because getting a legit rejection like that, I'd actually feel alright about it. Also, the extra bit about cultural...... "MAKE SURE YOU DON'T OPEN US UP TO LIABILITY, DU T". heh. 153 Reply Share ...
    via u/gymnastgrrl
  • 08
    bewildered_forks . 4 hr. ago This is absolutely a dumb f up, but every time I've seen "culture" mentioned in a job context, they mean something more like "personality." I was explicitly told when interviewing for my current job that they were looking for a "cultural fit" on the team, meaning they wanted someone whose personality meshed with everyone else's. So this is incredibly stupid, but they probably meant "mention something more tangible than 'we didn't like your personality"" and not cultu
    via u/bewildered_forks
  • 09
    beardicusmaximus8 · 3 hr. ago "We're sorry we decided that you are a not a good fit for our team because you have ethics and we don't" 24 Reply Share Mate_00.2 hr. ago Which would honestly be a great response. It's honest and it saves you from suffering endless moral dilemmas. That's a win in my book. 9 Reply Share
    via u/beardicusmaximus8, u/Mate_00
  • 10
    TitleTall6338.5 hr. ago Recruiters: "Please don't use ChatGPT or the same template for cover letters, it's not serious or professional". Recruiters: proceed to use a template 269 Reply Share PurpleAstronomerr . 4 hr. ago I don't bother with cover letters, but yeah, write a template and add in just enough to make it seem personal like these bozos did before they were caught. 29 Reply Share ...
    via u/TitleTall6338, u/PurpleAstronomer
  • 11
    Negative_Giraffe5719. 5 hr. ago Omg I've gotten the correctly filled out version of this 79 B Reply Share
    via u/Negative_Giraffe5716
  • 12
    phancyphants. 5 hr. ago Having to place the (not cultural) as a reminder for every time they send one those emails to MAKE SURE they aren't being either truthful (lets be honest) or "offensive" is a red flag on its own. Yikes. Bullet dodged. 243 Reply Share ...
    via u/phancyphants
  • 13
    notdekota 5 hr. ago When I was a hiring manager, when rejecting an application, you had several options to choose from as to why you were doing so. One of the options was "not a cultural fit", and I wonder if that's what happened here. The email is usually auto generated for the company I worked for, but maybe this company requires some sort of personalization. 69 Reply Share
    via u/notdekota
  • 14
    chrisrobbin09. 5 hr. ago How you decide or is decided a "cultural fit" I mean what are the variables HR look or analyze for" a cultural fit"? 15 Reply Share matthw04 5 hr. ago Not being a "cultural fit" just means they liked the other candidate's personality more. When you get to the final interview, it's all about whether or not the team can see you working well with them. They know you have the skills, but can they spend 8 hours a day with you, 5 days a week? 41 Reply Share ...
    via u/chrisrobbin00, u/mathw04
  • 15
    BluePosey 3 hr. ago I hate "warm regards" so much. It just sounds so insincere. Maybe it's because I first started noticing its use in those scam emails from non-English speaking countries. Now I see it used everywhere. What happened to "sincerely"? I liked sincerely. 8 Reply Share
    via u/BluePosey
  • 16
    xDutch Masterx . 5 hr. ago That's the fanciest No I've ever seen. Nice! 178 Reply Share Nathan_Calebman. 4 hr. ago Any person who upvoted this didn't even read the post lol. 28 Reply Share
    via u/xDutch_Masterx, u/Nathan_Calebman
  • 17
    snaps 78 4 hr. ago I want to see the apology 16 Reply Share juliown 3 hr. ago <insert tangible (not cultural) apology for recipient> 18 Reply Share
    via u/snaps78, u/juliown
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    ChikaraNZ 4 hr. ago Most companies don't even bother to give you feedback at all. Or even actually give you a decline letter, they just ghost you. Despite the error with the template, I have to give them credit for actually informing applicants, and, at least having the intent to give them some sort of feedback. 12 Reply Share Particular-Leg-8484 · 3 hr. ago Yeah I thought the same thing too. Every interview I've had in the past decade or so I've been either ghosted or got a yes on the spot. Two
    via u/ChikaraNZ, u/Particular-Leg-8484
  • 19
    . turquoise_crayons 5 hr. ago edited 5 hr. ago Unpopular opinion: At least this company as a whole is asking all recruiters to provide helpful feedback to rejected candidates. A lot of companies won't do that to avoid liability or back and forth. This error could have been avoided with a much simpler, canned message with no feedback, but they care enough to bother... of course, as long as the recruiters don't forget to populate field. 쇼 27 Reply Share
    via u/turquoise_crayons
  • 20
    FrostyLandscape . 5 hr. ago I'd say it's a polite letter. Back in 1989 I got a very rude letter back from a job I had applied to. And I applied only once, just mailed a resume and cover letter. This was before a lot of people used email; so they spent their postage money and time to write this rude letter. If the internet had been around back then I would have posted their rude reply online. ☆4 Reply Share
    via u/FrostyLandscape

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Awkward mix up rejection letter hr job candidate apology email boss employees interviews funny management upper management new job new hire job searching hiring process
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