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Dealing with HR during the hiring process

cps375

Plastic
Joined
Sep 28, 2015
I wasn't quite sure where to post this, hopefully this is the best spot
I was wondering what advice/techniques you guys have/use during the hiring process when dealing with the HR rep, specifically one working for a larger company who obviously doesn't know anything about machining. Thanks in advance!
Chris
 
I wasn't quite sure where to post this, hopefully this is the best spot
I was wondering what advice/techniques you guys have/use during the hiring process when dealing with the HR rep, specifically one working for a larger company who obviously doesn't know anything about machining. Thanks in advance!
Chris

Are you hiring or trying to get hired? If the latter, I would recommend applying elsewhere.
 
If you are trying to get hired put every relevant buzz word in your resume and sling as much bullshit as you can until you talk to a real person... I wouldn't even bother talking about any high level concepts until you are speaking to a plant manager or anyone that actually knows machining. Just talk about team work and being compassionate and understanding and all that bullshit when talking to a nonesense hiring manager/hr person.
 
Hr person is going to pass your resume to someone who hopefully is more technical. GENERALLY speaking the HR person doesnt know alot about manufacturing...however...sometimes you will run across one who does. Therefore you can not complete ignore the technical stuff but dont go too deep in the weeds with it. In many large manufactturing companies the HR person has sat in on yearly or quarterly meetings and heard talk of set up reduction, 5S, perishables, cellular manufacturing...this sort of stuff....be sure to add it. This is also the person who will be interested in any "extension" sorts of classes you may have taken or the volunteer stuff you may do...or hobbies etc.....basically....tell them you like kids and old people....puppies and kittens....
 
IMHO, HR people are among the most useless in the world. And they do more damage to the company that they work for than a nuclear bomb.

I have had to endure their questions many times. I try to put a smile on my face and I simply answer their questions as best and honestly and BRIEFLY as I can. If the company is any good, you will be talking to someone who does know about the actual job and you can save anything that you would volunteer for them. There is no way to tell just how any volunteered information may be interpreted by them. I mean, anyone who would even think about asking a question like, "What is your greatest shortcoming?" is a total twit.

The one thing that I might address with an HR person is any apparent mismatch between what the company is advertising for and what my resume states about me. But notice that I used the word "might" in the previous sentence. I think that the less that you volunteer to a HR person, the better off you will be in the process and you don't want to sound like you are explaining away a problem.

And if they are really obnixious, as some of the ones that I met were, I would seriously think about just getting up and walking out in the middle of their interview. In more than one case I would have been better off if I had done that. If someone else had brought you in for the interview, say good-by to that person on your way to the parking lot.
 
Fuck hr...most are women so you can't punch their teeth into the back of their throat but most (not all, I've met some fair hr ladies) deserve it.
 
My day job is in high tech, so I've always had to deal with the divide between HR and the technical people I'd actually be working with. HR works differently at different companies, but usually they have two functions related to recruiting: filtering incoming resumes and doing actual active recruiting. In a lot of places, filtering is a checklist process. The technical staff says they want somebody with a particular list of skills and experiences, HR walks down the resumes and selects the resumes with the greatest number of hits. Obviously, this is a pretty superficial process, but if you can't get past this gate, you're out of the game.

By far the biggest ace you can hold is to have a friend on the technical staff who can suggest to the HR people that they really want to see your resume, bypassing the buzzword checklist.

If your resume passes the sniff test, there's often a phone screening where somebody (could be HR, could be technical) tries to validate that your skills really match the resume. Only then do you get scheduled to come in for an actual interview.

Active recruiting at larger places is often outsourced to professional head-hunters, who fill a lot more positions than just the executive suite. However, the last time I got hired, I got the call from an in-house recruiter. 30 years ago, companies ran job ads in the Sunday paper classifieds. No longer, but HR will post job ads on-line in various places.

During actual interviews, I've seldom had much to say to HR people, who are mostly there to discuss benefits (which have never been negotiable anywhere I've worked). Maybe HR tries to gauge "corporate culture" fit, but that's a pretty low priority most places. Most of my interview time is spent with the people I'd be working with, the hiring manager, and maybe one non-team technical person.
 
My day job is in high tech, so I've always had to deal with the divide between HR and the technical people I'd actually be working with. HR works differently at different companies, but usually they have two functions related to recruiting: filtering incoming resumes and doing actual active recruiting. In a lot of places, filtering is a checklist process. The technical staff says they want somebody with a particular list of skills and experiences, HR walks down the resumes and selects the resumes with the greatest number of hits. Obviously, this is a pretty superficial process, but if you can't get past this gate, you're out of the game.

By far the biggest ace you can hold is to have a friend on the technical staff who can suggest to the HR people that they really want to see your resume, bypassing the buzzword checklist.

If your resume passes the sniff test, there's often a phone screening where somebody (could be HR, could be technical) tries to validate that your skills really match the resume. Only then do you get scheduled to come in for an actual interview.

Active recruiting at larger places is often outsourced to professional head-hunters, who fill a lot more positions than just the executive suite. However, the last time I got hired, I got the call from an in-house recruiter. 30 years ago, companies ran job ads in the Sunday paper classifieds. No longer, but HR will post job ads on-line in various places.

During actual interviews, I've seldom had much to say to HR people, who are mostly there to discuss benefits (which have never been negotiable anywhere I've worked). Maybe HR tries to gauge "corporate culture" fit, but that's a pretty low priority most places. Most of my interview time is spent with the people I'd be working with, the hiring manager, and maybe one non-team technical person.

It took almost 2 months to get my current job, all the itar bs and the background check that called all of my previous employers lol...
 
Tell them you are a disabled transgender refugee whale.

That should guarantee a job, plus extra benefits plus you will never be able to be fired.

Do not say you are a single white straight heterosexual male that has never been abused as a child. They will probably call the police.

YouTube

:D:D:D:D:D
 
I always hated HR, as someone applying for a job, as an apprentice who got sent to HR to be counseled on an "attitude problem" and as a department head during the hiring process. I remember being told by HR to stop giving people applying for machinists jobs math tests as we could get "sued" if someone claimed we used it to discriminate. For the record I gave them a scientific calculator and a pocket trig book with illustrations and formulas to use. It was a test that gradually got harder as it progressed. I am a math whiz, but I gave the test to various people in the plant that I knew to gauge what the scores meant. One of the applicants had to complain as my office and department tours were 100's of yards and closed doors away from HR. For the record the attitude problem was when I was 19 and our VP told us government inflation figures did not apply to our situation as the cost of new houses and cars were a big part of the figures. This was during a plant wide meeting saying there would be no raises that year. I stood up and embarrassed the a-hole in front of everyone when I asked if he thought we all walked to work and lived under freeway over passes.
 
thinking of HR gets me thinking of this clip

YouTube

I gotta one-up you>>>YouTube

HR is not quite as worthless as VP of operations. What does that even mean? Answer is; "Yes man".

But I've found the best thing to do, is not be very proactive with HR. Wait until they ask you a question. Don't go offering up information about yourself. Just wait until they ask "what is your favorite kind of Pizza", "what is your Hobby", "how many children do you have", where do you live", do you feel like it's more important to lead or be lead", "if someone breaks their Godamned neck on the job, how do you react", "what is your greatest strength" (this is the hard one, because you could say "making your Mom's toes curl", but you shouldn't).

Just wait, and answer the questions politely and briefly.

R
 
Good companies tend to hire good HR people.

They're there to save time of key leadership, help the company hire (and keep) good people, administer various benefit programs, navigate health care benefits and costs, and deal with occasional bad actors.

My advice would be to treat 'em with respect -- and help them do their job. Which in your case would be to see that a motivated, qualified, good culture-fit prospective employee gets an interview and then a job.

Most of them will have some sort of screening criteria. Helpful if you can find out what that is in advance.
 
My advice would be to treat 'em with respect -- and help them do their job.

Respect is earned, back in the day I never worked with an HR manager that deserved my respect. They were nothing but spineless yes men. I never had one side with a lower level employee on a beef even when upper management was 100% wrong. When the VP lied to 50 workers in a meeting and I called him on it the HR manager wimp backed him up.
 
Respect is earned, back in the day I never worked with an HR manager that deserved my respect. They were nothing but spineless yes men. I never had one side with a lower level employee on a beef even when upper management was 100% wrong. When the VP lied to 50 workers in a meeting and I called him on it the HR manager wimp backed him up.

Sounds like the main problem was the lying VP.

Do agree it would take an exceptional HR person (or any other hired hand) to buck the management that pays 'em.

And either way it sounds like you weren't in one of those good companies that tend to hire good HR people.

Personally, I've only had one really crappy manager - right near the beginning of my career. In that case his boss got rid of him.

I can't imagine anyone going into an interview with an attitude that HR people are mostly all shit . . . and in need of earning my respect . . . and think that's going to help them get a job. At one place, we used to ask the receptionist about prospects. If they didn't treat the receptionist with courtesy, they didn't get hired. The ones who asked questions and showed interest - they got "extra credit."
 
I can't imagine anyone going into an interview with an attitude that HR people are mostly all shit . . . and in need of earning my respect . . . and think that's going to help them get a job.

That is just my experience, yours may vary. I also had plenty of crappy managers, probably because in the largest company I worked nepotism and politics ran rampant, and it was publicly traded.
 
I've found the best way to deal with the HR person is to avoid them altogether. The couple of places that I worked that had a dedicated HR person, I called and asked for the shop manager and talked to him directly. I literally got my last machine shop position because I was the only one that applied that reached for a mic when asked to measure some sample parts, and that's not something I've ever seen an HR person ask.
 
Looking at some of the responses here makes me wonder. If a person goes into an interview, impromptu meeting, or even just a phone call with the attitudes I have seen I can understand why they dont get hired. Those opinions cant be hidden very well. They come out most of the time.
The HR person has something you want....a job...They have been given the task of weeding out the people who are obviously not qualified, trouble makers, scammers, pot stirers, etc......basically people who are just too much of a pain in the ass to deal with. Believe me, I have my issues with them.....but I have also been on the other side of the table. Needing them to weed out the guy who says he has been in manufacturing for years but has really been deburring parts or unloading a mold press. It would appear that many here make that job very easy for them.
Body language is huge....anyone who thinks there is something wrong with presenting yourself in a professional manner in order to get hired has just failed the first step of the interviewing process.....
 








 
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