She replied to HR’s training email with one question about their salary range. Minutes later, she was eliminated for ‘asking too early’
After HR’s blunt response, Alugbati is now planning to file a report against the company.
A Filipino applicant was shocked when a medical insurance company rejected her for asking for an official joining letter and salary details before joining the training. On August 18, 2026, Alugbati (@sardinaspula) exposed the dark side of the recruitment industry on Instagram Threads, and her post had received over 35,000 likes. Well, the candidate shared a series of email screenshots in which the HR accused her of being "demanding" and rejected her application over something so basic and reasonable.
A simple ask
Alugbati shared that the training was supposed to pay her $10 or 540 Philippine pesos, but the company hadn't disclosed her salary details yet. On July 31, when HR emailed her about starting training on August 4, she requested some basic information before saying yes. "I would like to ask if it would be possible to receive my job offer, including the salary details after training, as well as any employment documents that I need to review and sign before my start date," Alugbati wrote.
HR called it 'demanding'
Instead of providing her details, HR sent another email withdrawing Alugbati’s training offer. "Your request for a job offer and salary details before the training... was noted as being quite demanding," they wrote. Moreover, she was told that she didn’t meet the standards required for employment based on the evaluation of her performance and professional conduct. HR added that, according to the company’s policy, an official job offer and salary details can't be provided until the trainee completes their assigned training period. “I regret to inform you that we will no longer proceed with your training,” HR wrote in reply. After HR’s blunt response, Alugbati is now planning to file a report against the company.
Trust gap
Lack of transparency during the hiring process often creates a trust gap between the job seeker and the company. As a result, many candidates withdraw from the job altogether before they are even hired. In a survey of job applicants cited by Prism Executive Recruitment, nearly 75% of respondents reported withdrawing from the recruitment process at least once for various reasons. As a matter of fact, 87.5% blamed communication issues as the primary reason, and 70.6% said they felt like “jumping through hoops” and were not happy with the assessment process, just like Alugabati.
'Sounds like a scam'
Meanwhile, reacting to Alugbati's post, @iszuddinismail commented, “I think you should be an employee first before they can send you for any training. This ‘training’ is just another elaborate evaluation process.” @queenmarlena_ said, “It probably was a scam. It was gonna be free labor at a start-up company, and they were gonna ghost you afterwards.” Similarly, @cajoejoe added, “Sounds like a scam. Been working for years, and I've never heard of a company subjecting prospective employees to training before giving them a job offer." Although many readers suspect the company of being a scam, Alugbati clarified they are not scammers. In fact, she said they have a proper medical account, and she had seen the company employees.
You can follow Alugbati (@sardinaspula) on Instagram for more updates on this post.
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