No One Can Believe Company's Response To Failed Job Application—'Discarded'

A job applicant has shared her frustration after receiving what she considered to be an inadequate response to her job application.

Sanjna, 26, lives in London and applied for a job at Revealing Reality, a research agency that helps companies build a better understanding of their clients and customers.

But after sending a job application and cover letter, Sanjna was upset with the email rejection she received.

"Unfortunately, your application was not successful in this round," read the reply. "We received 254 applications for the job that you applied for. We read each application thoroughly and we hope to put as many promising candidates as we can through to the next stage of the recruitment process."

The email explained what the company was looking for, and that a number of applications were discarded for not providing a cover letter, or for providing a generic letter not tailored to the role of company.

"A number of applications were discarded immediately as they did not provide a cover letter," read the email. "About half wrote entirely generic letters that weren't tailored to the role of company. These were also discarded."

Despite this, the team at Revealing Reality also said: "If, after this feedback, you would like to re-submit your cover letter and do so by Sunday evening, we will take the time to reconsider whether we could put you through to the next round of the process."

"I didn't like the response," Sanjna told Newsweek. "I actually put effort into my cover letter and did all the things they said, so my understanding is this mail was a mass email [from] a frustrated employee who had to go through a lot of applications at a time when a lot of students were struggling to find jobs."

"I would have much preferred a detached email rather than this," she added, and said that she decided not to pursue the process further.

In 2022, other jobseekers shared the worst rejection responses they'd received, including the horrifying moment one man was CC'd into a company email about rejecting his application.

Sanjna also shared the email response on Reddit's r/antiwork forum, but people were split in their reactions.

Many responses felt that the letter was fair and balanced. One said: "I like it. They gave you a lot of helpful information, including information about who you are going up against, what they are looking for, what they expect in the application, and more importantly give you a chance to resubmit."

Another wrote: "Best rejection letter I've ever seen, and that you could hope for."

Owner, managing director and head of strategy at Revealing Reality, Damon De Ionno, told Newsweek: "Over the years we've given plenty of feedback in a similar vein and said people can apply again for future opportunities, but it is unusual that we give people a second chance in the same recruitment round like we did in this case.

"You always get some pushback. There will always be a minority of people who will complain about it or write to tell you what you're doing wrong. Some people will be upset and offended, and some can even be a bit abusive, which is probably why a lot of employers don't offer this kind of feedback."

De Ionno recalled how some of the company's current employees had received similar feedback, as well as second chances, before coming back and successfully becoming part of the team.

"It's difficult for graduates, people come out of academia and that's the biggest thing they've done and it's a really big deal—but they forget there are a lot of other people who have done the same thing," said De Ionno. "Because of that we have to find a way of differentiating between people and those that show that little bit of extra interest are the people that will get further."

Have you had a workplace dilemma? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.

Update 6/28/23, 7:29 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a new picture.