Engineer gets job offer. From his own company. And for his own position. How it happened?

Economic Times

a day ago

Engineer shocked after being recruited for job he already has
An engineering manager working at a mid-sized environmental consulting firm recently found himself in an unusual situation—he was offered his own job by his own company. The twist? A third-party recruiting agency was behind the mix-up, and they used the engineer's resume as the job description for the position.The incident came to light after the engineer shared the story on Reddit, where it quickly gained attention. According to his post, the company had recently opened a new office and needed to hire someone to fill a managerial role similar to his own. Without an in-house HR team, the company turned to an external recruiting agency to source candidates.To streamline the process, the company shared his resume with the agency as a reference for the ideal candidate. However, instead of creating a job listing with distinct criteria, the recruiters reportedly used the resume nearly verbatim and relied on bots to scan LinkedIn for matches. Unsurprisingly, the system identified the engineer himself as the top candidate—and automatically reached out with an offer.The recruiting firm, which is based in the U.S. but outsources much of its work overseas, appears to have used AI-driven methods to scan resumes and source applicants. As the engineer explained, these bots matched his qualifications so closely that he was considered a perfect fit for the job—without realizing he already held it.
The firm's approach drew criticism online, with commenters highlighting the growing reliance on automation in recruitment and its often comical results. One user remarked that the engineer should at least check if he could get a raise, joking that he was clearly the company's top candidate. Another added that he could 'rubber stamp his own offer.' This is not the only instance of recruiters mistakenly contacting current employees. One Reddit user shared a similar experience from a startup, where a recruiter tried to fill a junior position using an outdated resume of a current team lead. Another described being offered $1.50 more for the same role they already occupied. In that case, the employee informed their boss—who didn't find it amusing—but ended up giving them a raise.Such incidents have exposed issues in the recruitment industry, especially among agencies that prioritize volume over quality. One commenter, a former recruiter, criticized the business model that outsources critical hiring functions to poorly trained or indifferent staff overseas. Another noted that some agencies even advertise misleading job conditions to attract candidates faster.Following the incident, the engineering manager confirmed that his company would no longer work with the recruiting firm responsible. The recruiter's failure to properly vet candidates—and the embarrassment of mistakenly pitching a job to someone already employed in that very position—proved enough to sever ties.
The broader takeaway, however, reflects a growing frustration with recruitment practices in today's job market. With increasing reliance on automation, combined with limited oversight, even straightforward tasks like hiring a new employee can go unexpectedly wrong.