Turning Rejections Into Opportunities

Joanne Lockwood is joined by entrepreneur and job seeker C. Guz to unpack what happens when recruitment becomes a system designed to reject rather than to select. Drawing on C’s experience of receiving over 13,000 rejections and navigating a long period of unemployment, they explore how repeated knockbacks can erode trust and confidence—and how those experiences can be channelled into changing the way hiring works.

Together, they examine the mechanics that shape candidate experience at scale: CVs that strip out context, applicant tracking systems and filtering that drop people through the cracks, ghosting and poor communication, and the risk-averse behaviours that lead to longer, more burdensome hiring processes. They discuss why employer brand is inseparable from candidate experience, and how transparency—about stages, expectations and feedback—can increase psychological safety and reduce wasted time for everyone.

The conversation also addresses the ethics and limitations of AI in hiring, including automation on both sides, hallucinations and exaggeration, and why human judgement and dignity still matter. C shares the thinking behind her platform Octopus, which uses a role-specific pre-interview to gather more useful data than a CV and provide candidates with actionable feedback. The episode leaves listeners with practical reflections on rebuilding trust, human connection and inclusion in modern recruitment.