22 HR secrets

22 Secrets HR Won?t Tell You About Getting a Job - Manage Your Life on Shine

Doesn't apply just to IT but some good things to keep in mind. Some of them are common sense while others might be surprising.

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ehnde

Thanks for this. Note to self: hide carseat in the trunk and avoid any conversation about children!

Really great article. Everyone should read this.

Zartanasaurus

22. “I once hired someone, and her mother didn’t think the salary we were offering was high enough, so she called me to negotiate. There are two problems with that: 1) I can’t negotiate with someone who’s not you. 2) It’s your mother. Seriously, I was like, ‘Did that woman’s mother just call me, or was that my imagination?’ I immediately withdrew the offer.” –HR professional in New York City

Ooof .

Anonymouse

My thoughts:

1. That's pretty cruel. Did they not notice the lack of jobs and overabundance of unemployment the last few years? Screw these people.

2. I'm beginning to wonder if that's how I got my current job since I found out I knew two guys here and I heard there were a ton of interviews going on for my position.

3. Noted.

4. LOL

5. It's sad we need to be told this.

6. Don't really understand this.

7. That's some good insight and LOL.

8. Don't really understand why the bottom up. Anyone care to explain to me?

9. Noted.

10. I didn't even know resumes came in any other colors than black and white.

11. Again, it's sad people need to be told this.

12. Another cruel one. Hire the applicant with the best qualifications!

13. Thanks for the motivation to lose this damn gut. Makes sense to me. If you can't take care of yourself then how will you take care of your job?

14. Stupid. I can understand it but it's still stupid. Why are you so stupid, HR?

15. I don't understand this. You can't hear my phone. I can't hear my phone. Who gives a ****?

16. Learned this in highschool. Why do people need to be told this?

17. This has happened to me before. Interviewer rants on and on about stuff that may or may not be related to the job. I sit and nod the entire interview rarely getting a word in. Inteview ends and I don't expect a call back. *ring ring* "You're hired!"

18. I don't know about anyone else but I go by what the job posting says.

19. You guys taught me not to discuss wage early on in the interview process so that's what I follow.

20. Screw this guy.

21. I would think we all already knew this.

22. LOL oh man.

hex_omega

Was offended by many points in that atrticle. Sort of sickening, actually. No offense to the OP.

geek4god

Far more truth in there than a lot of us want to admit!

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

I wonder if number 20 thinks he's good as his job too...

Anonymouse

I just realized number 10 was kinda weird.

"And walking in and dropping off your resume is no longer seen as a good thing. It’s actually a little creepy.”

I don't get it. What's so creepy?

erpadmin

Anonymouse wrote: »

I just realized number 10 was kinda weird.

"And walking in and dropping off your resume is no longer seen as a good thing. It’s actually a little creepy.”

I don't get it. What's so creepy?

I'm guessing that since 99.9% of folks email their resumes, actually showing up at the HR department just seems "creepy."

I totally see though how and why there is an Evil Director of HR in Dilbert though; that character is personified with these points. Funny thing was my current position, I emailed the generic IT email. (Our department did their own screening, but lately have been using HR for that.) I got a call about a day or two later, an interview the following week, and an offer two weeks later. HR departments, for the most part, are just terribly overwhelmed, but they're not all bad though.

erpadmin

Anonymouse wrote: »

6. Don't really understand this.

8. Don't really understand why the bottom up. Anyone care to explain to me?

6. Sad and unfair part of life (and please do not construe this to mean I agree with this...I don't...I just understand it); no one wants to hire old people. It sucks, but it is very true.

8. When you are proofreading something, you read backwards and from the bottom. Copy editors do this when they want to catch misspellings, typos, etc. I just learned this myself a few weeks ago reading some blog...that's the only reason why I know this.

rogue2shadow

Number 22 made me laugh out.

Turgon

Honestly just use some common sense and forget these cheet sheets. The best prepared and best candidate can get passed over in the job stakes for a thousands reasons. Far too many people getting hung up on top ten hints and what have you these days IMHO.

Get your act together, reevaluate and keep applying. You eventually get hired if you have the goods.

MentholMoose

Many of those are obvious... don't put your "imaweirdo@hotmail.com" address on your resume, do include keywords, have a good handshake, avoid hot-button issues (religion/politics), turn off your phone, etc.

The rest are specific to the person (their pet peeves) and/or are flat out useless. Like for number 4, someone else probably submitted something like:

People assume nobody's reading their cover letter. I haven't considered any resume without one in 11 years.

It wouldn't add legitimacy to the article if they included both, so they flipped a coin. Or the guy who didn't like the candidate's car... seriously, what are you going to do about that information? Park a mile away and hike the rest (and hope the weather even allows it) before every interview for the rest of your life "just in case"? If you do that you are just going to end up getting burned by the "hates sweaty palms" or "can't stand messy hair" guy instead.

mikej412

Anonymouse wrote: »

"And walking in and dropping off your resume is no longer seen as a good thing. It’s actually a little creepy.”

I don't get it. What's so creepy?

If you made it to our corporate HR office to drop off a resume unannounced that means you somehow bypassed the security/visitor outbuilding, made it past the security gates or snuck cross country past corporate security, and made it past building security without a visitor badge. I can see how that would be creepy.

It's also possible that a small company (without HR departments) may not be expecting strangers to walk through their from door (or keep their door locked) -- so someone pounding on their front door to drop off a resume may not be appreciated.

But in a down economy, the gumption to go door to door in a Technology Park (after you've done your internet homework and checked out the companies there) may get someone's attention in a good way. The people who are creeped out by this or have a locked door don't matter if you are actively hunting down job openings.

techlady007

Wow, some of the things in the article are sad. It just shows how small minded HR people can be in the world. Especially #1 on the list, if any recent college grads read that it would put a damp in their day. Especially the ones in this field. Everyone would just have to be persistent and keep trying to reach their goals on finding a job.

Devilsbane

erpadmin wrote: »

8. When you are proofreading something, you read backwards and from the bottom. Copy editors do this when they want to catch misspellings, typos, etc. I just learned this myself a few weeks ago reading some blog...that's the only reason why I know this.

Your brain will often fill in gaps because it knows what it is supposed to say. Particuarly if you were the writer because you know the exact message you were trying to deliver.

This is why in school we had to do peer reviews on paper. Someone else doesn't know the message you're sending and is more likely to see it for what it's worth. But again, the brain can skip misspellings or words like of just because we expect them to be there.

RomBUS

I got lucky then with the rule then with the unemployment for more than 6 months, I was unemployed for almost a year.

it_consultant

I have personal experience that contradicts at least half of that list. I ought to write a blog about 22 things HR departments should know people say about them behind their backs.

Forsaken_GA

it_consultant wrote: »

I have personal experience that contradicts at least half of that list. I ought to write a blog about 22 things HR departments should know people say about them behind their backs.

Obviously the list isn't representative of every HR department, but I'm willing to bet the majority of them have been guilty of at least a quarter of that list at some point in the department's history, so it's better to be aware of all of them (and I'm sure there are many more unspoken issues) that to not be aware of them. Getting past HR is far too often a shell game these days

it_consultant

The worst things I see are people being turned down because of their age or weight. I know people who got hired specifically because they HAD small children (more likely to work hard and not get fired?) and plenty who were unemployed for more than 6 months etc. My cover letter has gotten me jobs - it was what separated my resume from the pile.

I think its important to remember that if they are disqualifying people for crappy reasons, you don't want to work there anyway.

pert

If people turn you down because of age or weight did you really want to work there? I put no stock in lists like these. Life is too short for me to worry about people discriminating. If youre honest about your skills, experience, and motivations then when you do get hired its going to be at a place you actually like and fit into. The worst thing isn't failing to land the job, its landing the job and finding out its horrible a month later.

WillTech105

pert wrote: »

If people turn you down because of age or weight did you really want to work there? I put no stock in lists like these. Life is too short for me to worry about people discriminating. If youre honest about your skills, experience, and motivations then when you do get hired its going to be at a place you actually like and fit into. The worst thing isn't failing to land the job, its landing the job and finding out its horrible a month later.

Unfortuantly its a part of life. People judge books by their covers.

Devilsbane

WillTech105 wrote: »

Unfortuantly its a part of life. People judge books by their covers.

I liked the up in the air reference that was in the article. It is certainly faster. We could spend all day debating on how accurate it is.

erpadmin

Seriously, I can tell you right now that holding these lists as gospel is not the right way to go. OBVIOUSLY there are a bunch of common sense things you should never do....you should ALWAYS have your real name as your email address or first name first initial of lastname or first initial last name. If you have something like Ilovedirtyslobs(at)xxx.com on your resume, you really deserve to not get hired. I actually plan on using my WGU.edu email for my resume, as it's a gmail account. There isn't an excuse about the email part of that list.

I have seen fat guys get hired. In fact, I'm pretty good friends with one. That guy had sold himself on his technical skills. He also knew to look presentable in a suit without looking like a mob guy or a slob.

Finally, if you have a crappy car...don't let that stop you from applying to your dream job. I know many six-figure people that do leave their main car at home BUT take the beater to work. If I drove an S-Class Benz, I wouldn't drive it to work for a myriad of reasons. Plus, I have NEVER been escorted to my car...always to the front door of the building.

My take with handshakes is if I'm shaking a woman's hand, I have never made it that firm...if it's a guy (whether he's effeminate or not), I'm making it as firm as possible without crushing his hand...

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't allow lack of sleep over this list. It's really ok...

CodeBlox

While some of this is common sense, some of it can come off as offensive to the right people. I wasn't offended but I will keep this type of thing in mind. Of particular note though about showing in person to drop off a resume, I forget who, but someone here had a post saying to do just that!

networker050184

I really don't think a lot of these apply for most positions. I've never had to have a face to face meeting with HR so they could judge me like these make it out. Its usually they get the resume, ask a few stupid questions about goals, sometimes they have a sheet of simple canned tech questions (and pronounce all of the stuff wrong) and then you are off to the actual hiring manager. My current job I went through the manager for everything. The only time I had to deal with HR is when they emailed me an offer letter without ever talking to me prior to that.

Psoasman

networker050184 wrote: »

I really don't think a lot of these apply for most positions. I've never had to have a face to face meeting with HR so they could judge me like these make it out. Its usually they get the resume, ask a few stupid questions about goals, sometimes they have a sheet of simple canned tech questions (and pronounce all of the stuff wrong) and then you are off to the actual hiring manager. My current job I went through the manager for everything. The only time I had to deal with HR is when they emailed me an offer letter without ever talking to me prior to that.

I dealt with my director the whole time. There was an HR person in the interview for appearances, but she said nothing, just called to offer the job.

Devilsbane

CodeBlox wrote: »

While some of this is common sense, some of it can come off as offensive to the right people. I wasn't offended but I will keep this type of thing in mind. Of particular note though about showing in person to drop off a resume, I forget who, but someone here had a post saying to do just that!

Usually the job posting suggests how your resume should be delivered. If they say drop it off at 1234 job way then go for it. Usually they give email addresses or use an online form these days in which case looking up their physical address and showing up wouldn't be a smart move.