agent emailed the interview feedback request to the candidate instead of the interviewer - recipient roles got...

agent emailed the interview feedback request to the candidate instead of the interviewer - recipient roles got swapped in a template refactor

TL;DR

A template refactor swapped the recipient variables, and feedback requests went to candidates instead of interviewers. Assert recipient roles before sending: the feedback request must go to someone with the interviewer role on that loop. Template variables are code; test them like code.

feedback request emailed to candidate instead of interviewer - recipient roles swapped

Steps

1. Confirm the swap: check the sent emails' recipients against the intended roles. Expected: Candidates got interviewer mail.

2. Fix the template variables and add a role assertion: recipient must have the interviewer role for this loop. Expected: Wrong-role sends are blocked.

3. Apologize to affected candidates; receiving internal feedback requests is confusing and unprofessional. Expected: The incident is owned.

4. Add template tests: every email template gets a test with mock roles asserting the right recipients. Expected: Refactors cannot silently swap roles.

5. Review other templates from the same refactor for similar swaps. Expected: The class of bug is eliminated.

When to use

• emails go to the wrong role
• a template refactor touched recipients
• candidates receive internal emails

When not to use

• the recipient was correct but the content was wrong (different bug)
• the role mapping itself is wrong in the ATS (fix the data)
• the email was intentionally to the candidate (check the template's purpose)

Tool compatibility

• any templated outreach
• role-based recipient resolution

Variant phrasings

• "feedback request sent to candidate"
• "recipient roles swapped template"
• "email to wrong role refactor"

Why it happens

Email templates resolve recipients through variables, and a refactor that renames or reorders those variables silently redirects mail. Nobody tests templates the way they test code, so the swap shipped. The candidate receiving an interviewer's feedback request is the kind of error candidates tell other candidates about.

Edge cases

• role assertions need the ATS role data to be correct; verify the source
• BCC and CC lines need the same assertions as To
• the apology should come from a human, not the agent that made the error

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_oPEuSYdI6HK5vf2MBd1vNA