Of course the aren’t required to ask, my post never said they were.

I’m not sure if you’ve been reading other comments in the thread here. There are lots of people not even getting calls back for job interviews. The market is flooded with tech workers from all the layoffs. Having an amazing resume at this point doesn’t guarantee you anything. Apple is trying to avoid laying people off and paying severance pay by trimming the workforce by inconveniencing them instead.