Woman lands interview after sending risky response to rejection letter

A job seeker has managed to land herself an interview despite receiving a rejection letter all thanks to a risky reply. Photo / TikTok / @swedishswan

A job seeker in the US has managed to land herself a job interview despite initially receiving a rejection letter.

Carly has been applying for jobs for a while but hadn't had much luck in moving to the next stage of the job hiring process.

After receiving another rejection letter, she decided to get a little crafty and responded to the recruiter.

Instead of begging for a chance or reiterating her skills for the job, she responded to the recruiter using an amusing meme.

"I just got another rejection letter from a job I applied for and I really wanted this job," she said in a now-viral TikTok video.

"So I took a lesson from Gen Z and I sent them back this."

The meme showed a famous painting of Pope Leo X by Colombian artist Fernando Botero with the caption "y tho", an abbreviation of the question, "Why though?"

"So I took a lesson from Gen Z and I sent them back this." Photo / TikTok / @swedishswan

After having her 15 seconds of fun Carly thought nothing more of it.

Then she received an email response asking her to come in for an interview.

"Anyway it worked," Carly said, laughing.

"They sent me another email saying they do in fact want to interview me."

Her video has been viewed more than 1.7 million times and has received a wealth of positive responses.

"This is the success story we needed in these dark times," one said.

Another suggested: "I feel like a lot of interviewing is just for personality and the fact that you showed some… they were like, 'Wait a minute, this person is cool'."

Another revealed: "Responding to a rejection email was literally how I got my job now. I kept thinking: What are they going to do, not hire me more?"

Some recruiters who saw the video said they'd be more likely to give the person a chance if they showed character.

"Being funny with recruiters is so underappreciated because I hate sending rejections and want the best for everyone - this would have made my year," one said.

Another said: "As a recruiter, if someone sent that to me I would absolutely want an interview".