Yahoo Finance Aussie’s fury over being ‘auto-rejected’ for Aldi job
An Aussie has vented their frustration after their job application was rejected almost on the spot.
An Aussie has kicked off a discussion about how artificial intelligence (AI) is hindering their job search after they were almost immediately denied a role at Aldi.
The Aussie took to Reddit to share that they had applied for a role at Aldi in Geelong West when they were ‘auto-rejected’ for the role.
Aussies flooded to the comments to suggest AI was to blame, with many companies using the software to scan resumes for keywords.
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“These emails give me PTSD. I have over a million of these emails sitting in my inbox from different companies. During my undergrad, I always got auto-rejected. It was always a blow to my confidence and self esteem. I hope you get some luck,” one user replied.
“I just applied this week and was told no maybe 6 hours after I applied - I was surprised how eager they were to reject me! I’m kind of glad it isn’t just me… but it makes you wonder, what specifically is triggering the auto reject if there is one?” another said.
“Glad it's not just me! I was kind of surprised that they didn't even give me a chance when I applied to our local one,” another user commented.
Use of AI for recruitment
Using AI to scan through resumes is not a new development. In fact, software engineer Angelina Lee had her resume go viral back in 2021 after she tweaked it to get past the screening.
She changed all the hyperlinks to link out to Rick Astley's song Never Gonna Give You Up - a long-standing internet joke known as 'Rick Rolling' - and one bullet point even boasted of her “record for the most vodka shots in one night”.
But it was the fact that she also included Instagram and Microsoft in her work history that she then saw a 90 per cent success rate for gaining an interview - despite the many other questionable additions to her resume.
As major tech firms are keen to hire from their direct competition, that seemingly made all the difference.
Many Aussie companies use AI to screen applications. Known as an application-tracking system, or ATS, advances in AI and machine learning mean key information is sniffed out before a human touch is applied to the hiring process.
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