Manager fakes ‘perfect candidate’ resume to test own recruiter, confirms worst fears

In a viral Reddit post, a manager tried to test the effectiveness of his own company’s hiring system and what he found out shocked him too. The frustrated manager wrote a post titled “I can’t hire either”, where he discovered just how broken the system is. To test the hiring process, the manager created a fake resume for a fictional “ideal” candidate named Jasper.(Representational) The manager-level employee revealed that they opened a role on their team earlier this year and coordinated with the Talent Acquisition Team (“TA”) to make sure the job description was accurate and the essential skills were clearly led. “Within a week, I got eight referrals from my broader network and coworkers. I reached out to those folks and had a couple of conversations about the job, and there were 2 or 3 people who were a decent fit and interested,” he added. But weeks went with no updates on any of the candidates. When the manager followed up, they were told, “We got 80+ applications, and I’ll screen them and send you the appropriate ones.” However, none of the referred candidates appeared in the l. That’s when suspicion turned into action. To test the process, the manager created a fake resume for a fictional “ideal” candidate named Jasper. “They were located in the right place. Salary expectations were at the bottom half of the posted salary range. Specific experience with all the needed skills and a well-built resume that is typo-free, calling out achievements,” he said. The manager showed their superior the resume, and everyone approved it. However, once the resume went through to the TA, an automated system rejected it. When the manager mentioned “Jasper” during a follow-up conversation, TA claimed they hadn’t reviewed it yet. Hours later, “Jasper” got an email asking to schedule a screening call. Shocked to see the turn of events, the manager shared their frustration of having to depend on a broken system. “The moral of the story from my point of view is: the system is broken for job-seekers, but it’s also broken for hiring managers. Some of us are trying our best, but the ‘systems’ put in place to help aren’t helpful.”