A horrified job hunter claims he accidentally submitted his STD RESULTS instead of his cover letter while applying for a 'dream' role - before being rapidly rejected. Jacques Paul had spent hours filling in an application for a digital marketing role at one of the 'big four' consulting firms and rigorously proofread it for any spelling mistakes.
But soon after the 27-year-old hit submit on his application, he 'freaked out' as he discovered to his horror that he'd accidentally attached his sexual health screening results too. Mortified Jacques Paul instantly panicked as he was unable to remove the personal info without withdrawing his application - and to do this would have to explain his blunder to the recruiter.
Instead, he believes the employer will have thought that he was submitted his negative sexually-transmitted infection results in a bid to show 'here's another good thing about me - I don't have any STDs'. The red-faced influencer has now landed another job and shared the hilarious story in the hope of 'de-stigmatising mistakes' and tackling the stigma around sexual health.
Jacques, from Haringey, London, said: "It was horrible at the time but it's a funny story now. I was applying for this job while listening to music, checking the news, I was looking at covid rates and doing something else on the side - I was multi-tasking.
"I'd just got my PDF [of my STD test results] downloaded and I was all negative thankfully. But then I accidentally attached it to the job application and sent it in.
"I thought 'okay, I'm good. This is a dream job, I'd really like to work here'. It was one of the big four consulting firms, it was [for] digital marketing. You get an email confirmation of your application and it said to log in to see the status, which I did. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.
"Then I saw the PDF of the STD results and freaked out." Jacques was job hunting around 18 months ago and less than three days after submitting his application he says he was rejected.
Jacques said: "This was mid-covid, about a year and a half ago, and everyone was looking for new jobs. I put a lot of thought and time into applying for this. You have to make sure your CV is adjusted.
"You write the cover letter, I proofread everything then f***ed up at the end by uploading the wrong thing. I couldn't change the application and the only email that was [on the website] was IT support. I wasn't going to make it a bigger deal than it already was.
"I freaked out and just waited hoping there was a very nice, sensible human on the other side seeing it and knowing it was an honest mistake and they'd reach out for the actual cover letter. But that obviously did not happen. Within 72 hours I got a standard message saying they weren't proceeding with the application.
"I figured I could follow up and ask for feedback, but I think I knew what it was. It looked like I was submitting my application and saying 'and here's another good thing about me - I don't have any STDs'."
Jacques' video has now racked up more than 1.1m views and 101,200 likes on TikTok - and he now hopes his 'honest mistake' will make people less nervous about CV mix-ups. Jacques said: "On TikTok, it's a mix of comments. A lot of people are saying they work in HR and it shows that you care about others, whereas others are saying 'this is great because it makes me less anxious about a spelling mistake'.
"That's the beauty of this. It went viral, it was an honest mistake but people are feeling a personal connection to it because it de-stigmatises any mistakes you might make. It resonates with people. The reason I decided to share this is it's a funny story but it's very important to destigmatise sexual health and really get people to test themselves, take care of themselves and not have it be such a taboo.
"It starts a conversation. A million people have seen me talking about sexual health." Many social media users reacted with horror at Jacques' admission - with one woman even claiming she would emigrate if she faced the same situation.
One user said: "Omg this makes me so much better about starting mine with a typo. Thank you, you’re doing God’s work." A female content creator said: "Haha I would simply need to move to another country."
Another TikToker said: "I would have simply passed away." A HR worker said: "Applicant displays impressive ability to be proactive in preventative care. Hired b***h."
