India, Feb. 28 -- A job seeker's frustrating experience with an excessively rigorous hiring process has sparked a heated discussion online. The job applicant, who shared his story on Reddit, described a lengthy and invasive interview process that ended in rejection-despite being told his references were "excellent."

"I'm so done," the applicant wrote, explaining that after passing a screening interview, he spoke with the hiring manager, then faced a panel interview with five people, including the CEO. After providing three references, those references were also interviewed. Then, the employer requested yet another panel interview before subjecting him to an 'exhaustive' inquiry about his activities since high school.

"They interrogated ...