AWAH- Kellogg’s HR System Flooded
Another Week, Another Hack : The Internet Snaps back!
This week’s hack takes the shape of a rebellion. A hack to a major job application system. When a bunch of reddit users stand in solidarity with 1,400 striking workers, Kellogg’s HR System did not stand a chance.
Let’s dive in.
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Just this past year, Union workers for the cereal giant Kellogg’s began striking for higher wages and better working conditions. When an agreement on pay couldn’t be reached, Kellogg’s announced that they were going to permanently replace these workers.
The Internet Steps In
A reddit user by the name of ‘BloominFunions’ took to the anti-work subreddit to vocalize the replacement threats and encourage the public to flood Kellogg’s hiring system with phony applications.
The post includes links to all the job sites where the applications were.
People were instructed to apply using zip codes and area codes provided from the states and cities where Kellogg’s factories were located. Doing this to prevent filtering the applications by the company’s automatic systems.
Public interest in the matter seemed to gained some momentum. Others who put their efforts into the cause created scripts and code for automating the application process. They offered up resources for resumes and cover letters that would bypass filter bots.
As the reddit post saw over 65,000 upvotes, it was clear Kellogg’s was catching on.
Kellogg’s Tries to Counter
Referring to the post, it seems like Kellogg’s tried their best to put software measures in place to weed out the mess they now had. They even added a CAPTCHA to their application process, but still people were encouraged to continue on with manual force.
In the end, the internet prevailed. After almost 3 months, Kellogg’s came to an agreement with their 1,400 striking workers. They accepted a 5 year contract with sufficient wage increases and enhanced benefits.
What is interesting to think about is if companies like Kellogg’s could ever prepare themselves for something like a viral post from getting in the way of their original plans.
The internet proves time and time again to be a powerful place. Being the target of something like this could really leave a company with nowhere to go.
Kellogg’s actions to give their striking workers competitive pay may only have been to save face and put an end to the spam.
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The Internet is a Powerful Place
It seems like if you have enough tech savvy people willing to fight one system, it’s easy to overwhelm it. All of Kellogg’s attempts to stop the flooding ended up not working. The deal in the end was to rehire all the striking employees and offer them the competitive pay they were asking for.
Overall, the main goal of this particular reddit post was to show big company’s their workers aren’t so easily replaceable. Making an example of Kellogg’s HR System. What it really shows, is an internet wrath like this could happen to anyone. For the right reasons and even for the wrong.
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