Economy & LaborMAR 15, 2023

“New Level Of Job Application Hell Just Dropped”: Screenshot Of A Completely Out-Of-Line Question On A Job Application Shocks Twitter

Recently, Salem Pierce, a 30-year-old graphic designer, shared a screenshot of a job application task that sent shockwaves through Twitter.

In a tweet that amassed 2.2M views, Pierce wrote “new level of job application hell just dropped.” The audacity of the task that asked a very out-of-touch question and required a video response crossed the line, people on Twitter said.

Scroll down to see the viral tweet and what people had to say about it. Also, if you've ever run into a similarly questionable job application question or task, share your experience in the comment section below.

Image credits: aWildSalem

Salem Pierce shared a screenshot of this job application task that left people on Twitter scratching their heads

Image credits: aWildSalem

Image credits: aWildSalem

Image credits: aWildSalem

Salem called the video response question the "most absurd thing" she's seen on a job application so far. "The question itself is rather invasive, but not really shocking. US corporate culture loves to stick its nose where it doesn't belong," she commented to the press.

She also explained that she noticed several minor red flags earlier in the process, so when she hit this, she stepped away to decide if she wanted to continue. “After the tweet went viral, I decided that ship had sailed."

The tweet amassed 2.2M views and stirred many reactions

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"I have been unemployed for nearly two years since I quit a toxic job that burned me out. Once I recovered (and after some self-discovery), I started talking about my job search on Twitter. I try to be transparent about the frustrations I face during the process, and this was one of them," Salem told a media source.

"Many people are concerned about the [question's] possibility of discrimination based on race, gender, or ability. Others, myself included, don’t like how intrusive it feels for people with past trauma or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Several folks with reported backgrounds in HR said they’ve seen questions like this used to screen for 'victim mentality,' which is really gross."

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The career coach says that the now-viral question "invites the interviewee to dish out all the bad things that have happened to them in life"

Image credits: Scott Graham (not the actual photo)

We reached out to Christine Mitterbauer, a licensed and ICF-approved career coach and serial entrepreneur, who commented on the now-viral job application question. “The question could sound loaded and invites the interviewee to dish out all the bad things that have happened to them in life, rather than tell about what great and interesting things they have done and achieved in their life,” she said.

“My general advice, if you have a bad gut feeling about something, then don’t apply. But personally, I’d find this kind of question an interesting challenge, and I’d be curious and open-minded as to whether the thought behind the question is coming from a creative and good place, or not,” Christine concluded.

On the other hand, the interviewee could try to tackle the question in a "meaningful" and "pro-active" way

According to Christine, you could tackle the question from a more positive perspective and tell your story in a way that sounds pro-active and meaningful.

Having said that, the career coach added that she doesn’t quite understand the amount of negative comments around this application question. “Maybe the interviewer is trying to weed out the creative, positive, go-getter type person from the rest?” she wondered.

"Seeing this question on an application tells me, as a recruiter, a hiring manager wants to see if the candidate is a 'culture fit,'” another expert argues

Bored Panda also spoke with Madelyn Machado, a career strategist and candidate experience advocate, who told us that seeing this question on an application tells her, as a recruiter, a hiring manager wants to see if the candidate is a “culture fit”.

She continued: “Which studies have proven again and again that 'culture fit' is just discriminatory behavior. Of course people want to work with people they would enjoy working with, but screening out candidates with this question in an application, or even in an interview, isn’t the right way to gauge if someone would be a good fit for the job or the company.”

Moreover, Madelyn argues that this job application question tells her that “the company and hiring managers don’t have a strong foot in reality to know what’s appropriate and not appropriate to ask in applications - so they probably don’t have an HR department that will protect you as an employee if they don’t have HR to approve these questions.”

The career strategist believes that this question crosses the line in a couple of ways. “For starters, easily being able to discriminate based on race, gender, country of origin (accents), candidates with disabilities.”

Image credits: LinkedIn Sales Solutions (not the actual photo)

"What if someone’s had a bad go at life so far?"

According to Madelyn, all of these protected candidates lose their protection by “exposing” themselves so early on in the application process. “But also, what if someone’s had a bad go at life so far? What does that have to do with them being a good fit for the position or being good at the job? Sharing their sad story to complete strangers to determine if they’re worthy of an interview is a violation.”

Moreover, Madelyn said that the question can be interpreted as a “misuse of power on the company's part, making a candidate jump through these hoops and make them push themselves so out of their comfort zone for, let’s call a spade a spade, entertainment purposes.” She concluded that “it’s in no way a standard practice that only happy and positive people should be employed.”