An Indian startup founder is drawing attention online after revoking a job offer to a candidate who impressed the team with their skills and initiative. The entrepreneur claimed that the role, offering ₹22 LPA, was rescinded after a background check revealed the candidate’s LinkedIn remarks that were “derogatory towards religious communities.”
“Cancelled the offer letter based on derogatory comments made on some LinkedIn posts. After our viral post on reddit regarding 12000 hires and 450 Interviews none selected, this candidate reached out to us and applied, to further impress us even created his resume with Jobbie and highlighted steps to improve the platform,” Jobbie founder Mohammed Ahmed Bhati wrote on LinkedIn. He referred to a post on Reddit where the company claimed that candidates who applied for the junior developer role relied heavily on AI tools for coding without grasping the logic behind their work.
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The founder continued that, impressed with the candidate’s skills and initiative, the company rolled out a letter of intent with a salary of ₹22 lakh per annum, two lakhs above its set budget. However, things changed when the candidate's background check was conducted.
{{/usCountry}}The founder continued that, impressed with the candidate’s skills and initiative, the company rolled out a letter of intent with a salary of ₹22 lakh per annum, two lakhs above its set budget. However, things changed when the candidate's background check was conducted.
{{/usCountry}}“No matter how skilled someone is, respect and basic decency matter to us more. Talent gets you in the door. Values decide if you stay (sic),” the founder continued and shared screenshots of two emails.
One email shows the letter of intent sent out to the candidate. The other is the rejection letter that says, “As mentioned earlier, we carried out a routine background check before proceeding with the offer. During this we came across some recent public posts on Linkedin that included comments from you which will deeply hurt religious sentiments of certain communities.”
How did social media react?
The post received mixed reactions on social media. While many sided with the founder, some had opposing views and claimed that rescinding a job offer only based on a few social media remarks is harsh.
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An individual posted, “Only a fresher can understand the importance of this position. There is so much to do and learn. Education makes a human being grounded, teaches gratitude, and keeps him humble. But now I know why the cultural round is important.” Another added, “I heard this reason for cancelling the offer letter for the first time.”
A third commented, “Revoking an offer letter for a professional position based on someone's social media activity shows how this ‘cancel culture’ can affect organisations when the wrong people get into leadership positions. And posting it here isn't virtue signalling, either. It simply shows how immature and insecure you are as a leader. Good luck finding good candidates.”
A fourth wrote, “The amount of hate this post is receiving is unreasonable.”