HR team fired after manager discovers applicant tracking system auto-rejecting all candidates

A company’s entire HR department faced termination after a manager uncovered a major flaw in its applicant tracking system (ATS) that was automatically rejecting every job candidate.

The manager, frustrated by the team's inability to find suitable candidates for three months, decided to investigate the hiring process himself.

Sharing his experience on Reddit, he revealed that he created a fake email and submitted his own resume under a pseudonym, only to find that it was auto-rejected within seconds, despite his qualifications. "I got auto-rejected without anyone in HR even reviewing my resume," the manager explained.

The root cause of the issue turned out to be a critical error in the ATS, which was rejecting candidates based on outdated search criteria. Specifically, the system was filtering for expertise in AngularJS, an older framework, while the company was actually seeking developers skilled in Angular, a newer and distinct technology. As a result, all qualified candidates were being dismissed without evaluation.

When the manager presented his findings to upper management, swift action was taken, and half of the HR team was let go.

The manager expressed frustration over the HR team's failure to address the issue, despite repeated discussions about the lack of suitable candidates. He criticized their performance as "lazy and mediocre," noting that their oversight cost the company potential hires and wasted valuable time.