About

HRjak, also known simply as the Anne Hathaway HR Meme or Anne Hathaway Zoom Call, refers to a reaction image and Soyjak character of a human resources (HR) manager poking fun at several stereotypes linked to the profession, primarily at HR managers ghosting candidates and wasting their time. The Soyjak drawing is based on a viral Zoom call with actress Anne Hathaway and features elements from other memes, such as Soyjak Awards and the I Would Never Ever Ever shirt slogan.

The HR POV meme was first posted in late February 2021, with the HRjak character then appearing sometime around January 2025. The image has gone viral on social media multiple times since, inspiring discourse about HR professionals and job applications.

In early August 2026, Anne Hathaway then commented on the HR meme in a video with actor Ewan McGregor for Esquire, saying it, alongside her "cupcake meme," was her favorite meme of herself.

Origin

The image of actress Anne Hathaway looking at the camera and smiling during a video conference call, which the HRjak Soyjak drawing is based on, was part of a 2021 episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, which was uploaded to the show's official YouTube^[1] channel on February 19th, 2021 (shown below).

The moment was covered in an article on People^[10] that same day, titled "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Queens Get a Surprise Visit from Anne Hathaway Ahead of Rusical Challenge," which is where the image used in the HR memes stems from.

The earliest known meme using the image of Hathaway on the Zoom call appeared on February 20th, 2021, when X / Twitter^[11] user @TheMattChuChu tweeted a POV meme that read, "POV: Your company’s HR director is about to fire you on a Zoom call." The post garnered over 172,000 likes and 200 replies in five years.

HRjak Origin

The exact origin of the HRJak meme is currently unknown. However, on January 28th, 2025, the Facebook^[2] page Important JPEGs made the earliest discovered repost of the image. The post (shown below) garnered over 1,000 reactions and 960 shares in three months.

Notably, the image features two popular Soyjak-adjacent memes, the Soyjak Award and the I Love X, But I Would Never Ever Ever Y meme.

Spread

The Anne Hathaway Zoom Call meme continued spreading online throughout the early to mid-2020s as the format was used in image captions and other memes.

For example, on February 23rd, 2021, X^[12] user myeshachou used the format in a There is No War in Ba Sing Se meme, garnering over 128,000 likes and 200 replies in five years.

On February 27th, 2021, Tumblr^[13] user drinkyourjuiceshelby reposted a meme from a tweet about Zoom calls, receiving roughly 50 notes and 40 likes in five years.

On December 15th, 2023, Redditor Mr_Kung_Pao posted another HR version of the meme to the /r/meirl^[14] subreddit, garnering over 48,000 upvotes and 940 comments in three years.

The HRJak image went viral and spread on social media in early 2025 as multiple reposts were made on Facebook,^[3] Instagram,^[4] X^[5] and iFunny.^[6]

For example, a January 30th repost by X^[5] user @380kmh garnered over 1.4 million views, 4,600 reposts and 48,000 likes in three months.

Also on January 30th, 2025, Soybooru^[7] user Dino archived an alternative version of the meme used on Soyjak.party (shown below).

The Anne Hathaway version of the meme continued to spread online in February, March and April 2025. Notably, on March 28th, 2025, X^[8] user @ebeggin1 made a repost that garnered over 1.8 million views, 6,400 reposts and 62,000 likes in two weeks.

The post was followed by multiple posts engaging in discourse on whether HR workers are responsible for company hiring practices and whether their reputation online is deserved.

For instance, on March 29th, 2025, X^[9] user @MarxistRealism made a post defending HR professionals that received over 900 reposts and 10,000 likes in two weeks (shown below).

Anne Hathaway's Response To Meme

On August 4th, 2026, Esquire uploaded a video to its YouTube channel, titled "Anne Hathaway & Ewan McGregor on the 'Star Wars' Story Left Unfinished," as part of its "Inquiring Minds" series, which received over 5,200 views and 230 likes in a day.

During the segment, Hathaway and McGregor responded to the question, "What is your favorite meme of yourself?" While answering, Hathaway included a meme about her eating cupcakes, as well as the HR meme.

There's another one which is just so accurate. It was during the pandemic. I was doing this Zoom, and I had a panic attack, and I just flushed from here to here, and I started sweating, and my hair got really matted to my head, and I just smiled, and somebody made me like the forever face of HR. Telling you that you're about to be fired cause the smile goes nowhere near my eyes. Those are the two that I know about.

The clip was then reposted to the /r/popculturechat^[15] subreddit that same day under the title "Anne Hathaway’s favorite memes of herself are ‘me realizing I ate all the cupcakes’ and ‘the forever face of HR telling you that you’re about to be fired,’" where it garnered over 17,000 upvotes and 300 comments in a day.

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References