The Truth about Human Resources

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:43:35 EST

So I'm sure you have all heard that you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Nothing could be further from the truth. You need to know exactly how Human Resources works and why.

Unfortunately none of you have ever likely had the ability to keep Human Resources close let alone get any feedback from them.

Why is that?

Do they want you to fail?

Do they love to see you squirm?

Are all HR people sadistic?

Why won't they return your calls or emails?

Why does it seem like their reasons for not hiring me are just made up?

And why won't they give me any feedback about my resume or qualifications?

Go ahead and scream; it's just not fair is it!

So what can you do? Well a wise man once said that to be successful at anything, just find out what everyone else is doing and do just the opposite. Unfortunately most people think that Human Resources actually does the hiring in a company.

The fact is that the vast majority of time Human Resources just does the facilitating. They don't make the final decision on a hire and they don't make the final decision on a fire. So they really are the first of many Gatekeepers. They will likely do the background checks, the reference checking, the assessment/psychometric testing and more but they don't actually make the hiring decision.

So is HR evil? No of course not.....Then WHY don't they give any feedback through the hiring process or at least tell you why they don't bring you in for an interview?

Are you ready for this....

They would actually love to help but there are two big things holding them back from ever getting involved:

→ Government Regulations

→ Job Constraints

First let's talk about Government Regulations. Here is just a sampling of the many different acronyms that Human Resources have to deal with.

AA Affirmative Action

ADA Americans with Disabilities Act

AAO Affirmative Action Office

ADEA Age Discrimination and Employment Act 1967

ASTD America Society for Training and Development

BFOQ Bona Fide Occupational Qualification

BU Bargaining Unit

COBRA Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act 1985

EAP Employee Assistance Program

EEO Equal Employment Opportunity

EEOC Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

EPPA Employee Polygraph Protection Act 1988

ERISA Employee Retirement Income Security Act

FLSA Fair Labor Standards Act

And on and on and on and on.......

And wow, I'm just up to the "F's" and I skipped a bunch at that! You may be getting the picture. No it's not that HR is so busy trying to keep up with all the regulations it's that so many regulations exist that keep them from telling you the REAL reason they don't want to hire you.

That's right, all the regulations that are in place to protect YOU, keep HR from ever telling you why they can't hire you.

Let me explain. Lets say that there is a law that states that if you have a certain disability, then the company is legally obligated to make certain concessions and adjust the work environment to suit you if it is feasible.

That regulation is in place to help you if you have a disability. HR will use the most generic excuse possible to tell you that you will not be hired because they don't want to potentially be liable for breaking laws. And in many cases they also just don't want the hassle of accommodating you. So it's easier all around to just not tell you or give you a generic response.

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The Truth about Human Resources