Bengaluru woman shares company's rejection email: 'Your skin tone is little fair...'

A woman claims she failed to secure a job because of her skin tone (Representational image)

A Bengaluru-based recruitment professional has claimed she failed to secure a job because her skin tone is too fair. Pratiksha Jichkar shared a screenshot of the email she purportedly received from the organisation that rejected her application after three rounds of interviews and one assignment. However, doubts have been raised about the authenticity of her story and the screenshot, with scores of commenters claiming that no company, and no HR professional, would draft the kind of email that Jichkar apparently received.

Jichkar, whose LinkedIn profile says she is based in Bengaluru, shared a lengthy post on her rejection yesterday. “I was rejected in final round of interview, as my skin tone was little fair for the team,” she wrote, adding that her job application was turned down even though she met all the required qualifications and skills.

She shared a screenshot of the email after blurring out the name of the company. It read: “Hi Pratiksha, thank you for interviewing with us and being patient throughout the process. Unfortunately, we cannot move ahead with you for the role at this time.

“We found your profile relevant and all skills and qualifications match what we are looking for but we are an inclusive organisation and believe in equal opportunity for all.

“Your skin tone is little fair for the current team so we don’t want differences in our internal team, and we decided not to offer you,” the email concluded.

Sharing the screenshot on LinkedIn, Jichkar said she was “stunned” and “shocked” by the response. She also called on the unnamed company to rectify their work culture and hire people irrespective of their complexion, and based on their skills.

Her post went viral on the business networking platform with over 12,000 ‘likes’. It also reached other social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter, where most people raised doubts about the authenticity of her story.

“There is no way, no way, a HR would like write this. I understand diversity hirings sometimes end up being unfair to some, but that wording is never gonna be put in official mail by any half competent HR lol. This is a rage bait,” wrote one person on Reddit.

“Definitely fake. HRs don't give reasons for rejection on the face/phone and will send on the email and that too like this. Not a chance,” another agreed.

Reactions were largely similar on Twitter.

A girl got rejected because she had a fair complexion

What a time to be alive pic.twitter.com/bGNZISfp4c

— Aryan Trivedi (@AryanTrivedi_7) July 25, 2023

“This is not fair,” another quipped. “This can't be true. Even if the reality is this, no company would mention this in rejection mail,” another said.

Several people also pointed out that Jichkar had turned off the comments on her post after being called out.