'I've landed 5 interviews in the past 6 weeks': Job applicant cold calls company HR departments, claims he was asked to schedule an interview without applying

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Nov 4, 2025 9:00 AM EST

It is no secret that the job market of 2025 is not one that is easy to succeed in. Overwhelmed hiring managers, fake job listings, and AI galore only serve to make the ordeal of selling oneself to a prospective employer even more difficult, in the sense that applicants have even less of a chance of getting an audience with this employer in the first place. Frustration doesn't even begin to cover it.

For those who find themselves looking for a new position in the world of work, it now requires a whole other skillset that arguably was not as necessary before. Even for the least prestigious of roles, a certain level of grit and ingenuity is what is going to give an applicant an edge. While it could be argued that this has always been true, it has never been truer than the present moment. You have to think outside the box.

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    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Boomers are often mocked by the younger generations for their outdated assumption that walking into a business, shaking a few hands, and handing over a resume is an automatic guarantee that somebody will land a job. However, it could be argued that figuring out the modern version of that is exactly what helps job seekers find the work that they seek. The only thing is that it may require some bending of the truth. If the game is rigged, then it favors applicants who are, too.

    This was the case for one individual who was despairing at their lack of responses when applying to positions. They changed tactics and began to ring up companies and claim that they had been asked to schedule an interview, even though it wasn't true. This method had a great success rate, and it impressed those who came across the story. Things shouldn't have to work this way, but it benefits those who aren't afraid to try it.

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    Rational Aussie @rationalaussie Hilarious. The social contract is broken and people are done playing by the rules.
    via rationalaussie
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    r/InterviewCoderPro u/EdJakubowski1 • 3d I started calling companies and saying "I was told to call to schedule my interview." The results are insane. I was getting absolutely nowhere, sending my resume into the void. After four months of getting ghosted by pretty much every company I applied to, I was at my wits' end. Then I had this epiphany: these recruiters are just buried under hundreds of applications. It's not personal; they're just overwhelmed and have probably lost track of who they've
    via rationalaussie
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    Blackthorne ❤ @BtcBlackthorne Replying to @rationalaussie Now the job market is gonna be overrun with liars. This is nature taking its course. When institutions stop keeping their side of the deal, people stop keeping theirs. Systems that reward gaming... produce gamers. Is anyone surprised?
    via BtcBlackthorne
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    Dr. Austin Smith @d3fmetal Replying to @rationalaussie If you call someone and they call you out on it, just say you must have fallen for a recruitment scam pretending to be their company
    via d3fmetal
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    UID 1 @HackForums Net Replying to @rationalaussie But that's the thing, even when I was a young man 40 years ago there was things you did to stand out and get a job. Calling HR seems like a wise thing to do. Being proactive is how you get jobs. Always been that way.
    via HackForumsNet
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    Go ilikecats @0xilikecats Replying to @rationalaussie They really shouldn't be bragging about this until after they sign an offer. Now they're going to compete with copycats bandwagoning onto a loophole that'll no longer be novel and be closed off much sooner... all for some fake internet points which I guess somehow pays the rent?
    via 0xilikecats
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    Hispanic Nomad | Re... @hispanicnomad Replying to @rationalaussie That's amazing HR has been one of the worst things to happen to the job market Basically people who don't know anything about the role, acting as gatekeepers I'm all for gaming the system
    via hispanicnomad
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    Arko Ganguli @GanguliArko Replying to @rationalaussie So ghost jobs meet scam artist applicants. The economy is booming I guess.
    via GanguliArko
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    EHEPPA
    via Glenn Carstens-Peters

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    Yoni @YSvechinsky Replying to @rationalaussie why, that's the equivalent of going into hq and giving your cv to someone there and taking your way in
    via YSvechinsky
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    Anthony Russo @aprussoiii Replying to @rationalaussie The thing is, broadly speaking, the person who does something like this is precisely the kind of person you want to hire. They pushed themselves into an uncomfortable gray area in an attempt to beat what is essentially a lottery. You want that talent on side.
    via aprussoiii
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    via NordWood Themes

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    D the Designer ❤ @D_the_Designer Replying to @rationalaussie and @S1GHB3RS1NN3R What social contract? People just used to outright lie on resumes and applications. People only stopped doing that broadly because it became really easy to get caught.
    via D_the_Designer
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    Niall McCourt @McCourtNiall Having worked door to door sales, and lived off a commission only cold calling job for a year successfully in Singapore, the art of cold calling & navigating gatekeepers is never out of style, though practioners are getting rarer
    via McCourtNiall
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    J. Rolf Haltza @RolfHaltza I have my issues with the feasibility of this approach, but the system has so much opacity that it's still worth a try.
    via RolfHaltza
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    Bacon @Bacon Incident @Bacon_Incident you know how people will fuck with scam call centers because they are so sick of getting scam calls? We're going to see it where people will jerk around HR departments purely out of revenge for all the bullshit hiring practices.
    via Bacon_Incident
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    Disappointed Dad @PAPADAVAD I'm 26, this is how I've gotten most of my jobs since I was 16. I just figured it was normal and that it was the best way to show that I was a proactive worker who recognized the load that a manager had Imao
    via PAPADAVAD
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    Nicos @Nicos143 I'm so glad that we've wrecked our society to the point where being honest and respectful is pushing us behind.
    via Nicos143
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    twistedyeti @twistedyetinut our generations version of walking in with your resume and giving the manager a handshake.
    via twistedyetinut
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    katexbt.hl@katexbt An even more fun corollary of this is that those who succeed in gaming the system and then turning out to be good hires, will be lauded as hustling entrepreneurs thinking outside the box. If you fail, you're a scammer. If you succeed, you're a grinding entreprenurial individual
    via katexbt

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