Hiring problem isn’t always due to human resources professional

793

Dear Joan:
Recently, your article dealt with a person who had been asked to return to his former place of employment and then was insulted in the interview. I think you missed the point in your response, when the interviewer asked, "How would the company benefit if you were rehired?"

It was obvious to me that this was yet another case of idiot HR employees. Having been involved in many job searches and interviews, it has become painfully obvious to me that some HR people have no clue what they are doing. They often ask standard, scripted questions and generally have no concept of what the actual job is all about. How sad it is that those who are empowered with the ability to give and take away employment possibilities, are often skilled in nothing more than giving personality tests, and the lack the ability to actually judge if the prospective employee may actually be suited for the open position.

Maybe these companies need to put more thought into who they hire to hire people. If HR means, "human" resources, why do so many HR employees have the interpersonal skills of a carrot?

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been asked the same useless, scripted questions that have nothing to do with the job at hand, only to find that the position went to the person who could BS the best, yet didn’t have the job skills necessary.

What is this, a forensics tournament or a place of business?

Answer:
I can understand your frustration but I think you may be off track. On the whole, I find most human resources professionals are hard working people who are committed to helping their organizations.

What concerns me is your anger towards all human resources interviewers because you didn’t get jobs you want, rather than doing some personal introspection about how you could have interviewed better. Granted, some interviewers may not be very skilled, but to call them all idiots for not hiring you makes you look like the problem.

Let’s look at both sides. I agree that human resources professionals should be familiar with the job for which they are hiring. And at the same time, it’s important for job seekers to understand the human resource interviewer’s role in the process.

For example, it’s not the role of the human resources professional to actually make the final decision when interviewing employees. Their role is to do some pre-interview screening. They often ask standard questions about date gaps on a resume and they’ll attempt to validate your qualifications and experience. They are also trying to uncover any significant interpersonal problems you might have had with former managers or co-workers. They are also attempting to determine if you would fit the culture of the organization. They often leave the job-specific questions for the hiring manager. In the ideal world, the hiring manager would do all the screening and interviewing, but in most cases this is simply not a good use of his or her time. It would mean that they wouldn’t get anything else done.

Of course, this means that you must first get past the HR interviewer. I can empathize with your frustration about the hiring process. It is far from ideal. And it’s especially aggravating when your interviewer doesn’t seem to know much about the job. But the stark reality is that you need to get through the process to get what you want. It’s critical that you prepare for all those routine questions and you can illustrate your qualifications with stories that you have thought through ahead of time. It is your job to position yourself as an ideal fit for the open position. If you go into the interview with a masked disdain for the interviewer, it’s likely to show, and you’ll never get your chance to be interviewed by the hiring manager.

I agree that some candidates can be well rehearsed. However, I find that most BS’ers are screened out before the final hiring decision is made. If they are hired, they’re gone by the six-month probationary period. Today, many companies check out references very thoroughly, and some even hire special companies to do background checks on finalists. Companies are more careful than ever to validate college degrees and employment histories. They don’t want to get stuck with a problem employee they can’t get rid of. It’s one of the reasons so many companies are hiring temps and checking them out first before offering them a full-time job.

If you’re concerned about being screened out prematurely, network with colleagues and people in a position to hire you in the future. Being well-known and respected will allow you to skip over a lengthy pre-screening process if the hiring manager already knows who you are and what you can do.