Sounds like the solution is to say, “Yes,” then never show up onsite. Make them fire you, so you’re entitled to unemployment benefits and any severance.

You know how a lot of job applications say something like “Have you ever been fired?”. That is a pretty strong filter. When you are expecting hundreds, if not thousands, of applications from everyone who knows how to look at linkedin, you need to set those filters up. And it becomes a roll of the dice as to whether “worked at a FAANG” gets you auto interviewed or “been fired” gets you auto rejected.

So it stands to reason that most staff are more likely to just resign and lose their severance rather than take the termination.

You just say “no. And then explain the actual situation in the interview. And no engineering job I’ve ever applied for has had me fill out an “application”. That’s not a thing.