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Saying No

Reading this templated rejection email for job posting I had recently applied to amused me a great deal: 

We’re very sorry to inform you that we have selected other finalists to proceed with for our <Role I had applied to>

We’re incredibly grateful for your interest in <Name of Company>. It takes courage and vulnerability to apply to new opportunities, and we consider ourselves the fortunate ones to have someone of your caliber to have taken an interest in us. 

.. and it went on for a bit after that but more mundanely

If I was a year out of college, I might have appreciated the "thoughts and prayers" line about how I summoned up courage and leaned into my vulnerability to apply for a job I was greatly underqualified for. In this situation, I had to yank out three fourth of my resume to right-size it for what the job needed - that is how little it needed. 

Between an AI based screener and child maybe about J's age who is likely the recruiter, there is no way to have a communication on substance between an experienced candidate and hiring manager. I do send out a share of shot in the dark applications like this one and the rejection notes that come like clockwork are often an entertaining read bursting as they are with the literary flair of Chat GPT. 

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