People outraged after woman denied job because her voicemail wasn’t ‘more appropriate’

‘I don’t see the problem, this voicemail is perfect’

A woman has sparked outrage on her behalf after revealing that she was denied a job opportunity because of her voicemail recording.

In a video posted to TikTok in January, Zanaya Jones, who goes by the username @zanayajones8 on the app, shared a recording of the message that she received from a supermarket manager informing her that she had been denied the job because her voicemail was not “appropriate”.

In the voicemail, the man can be heard telling Jones that he recommends a “more appropriate” voicemail message if she is applying for jobs and expects a call from a potential employer.

“Yes Ms Jones, I recommend that if you apply for a job and you expect somebody to call you, that you have a more appropriate response on your voicemail. So thank you for applying and no need to give us a call back. Thank you, bye bye,” the voicemail states.

On TikTok, where Jones captioned the clip: “The time I didn’t get hired because of my voicemail,” the video has been viewed more than 22.1m times.

In a follow-up video, Jones then shared a recording of the voicemail that she has set up on her phone, in which she can be heard saying: “What’s up, what’s up, what’s up? What’s up y’all? It’s your girl Naya and I’m back with another banking banger. I’m sorry I couldn’t answer the phone, please leave your name, number, yeah, and all that, yeah.”

The video prompted shocked responses from viewers who claimed that there was “literally nothing wrong” with Jones’ voicemail message.

“There is literally nothing wrong with this,” one person wrote, while another said: “Man I thought you were cursing or something the way he was acting. This is adorable.”

Someone else added: “It wasn’t vulgar. It wasn’t professional but it wasn’t bad.”

Others claimed that the supermarket’s response to the voicemail was a red flag, and that Jones wouldn’t have wanted to work for a company “that obsessed over being ‘professional’ outside of work”.

“It’s not even bad! Working for someone that uptight would have been a nightmare,” one viewer wrote.

Another said that it sounded like Jones “lucked out” as she “probably would have been miserable in that job”.

While speaking with BuzzFeed, Jones agreed that she likely “dodged a bullet” and that, when she has shopped at the supermarket, the “customer service is horrible”.

The Independent has contacted Jones for comment.