I have the greatest hair stylist in the world. Not only can she make my mess of hair look stylish, she’s really intelligent. For the past four years, she’s put herself through college as a cosmetologist; her major is mechanical engineering and she graduates next month.
She and I have talked over the years about studies and projects but she’s never mentioned life after school, until yesterday.
Birmingham doesn’t have the best job market, at last count our unemployment rate was at 10.7%. According to my stylist only two jobs have been open in her field of study since December. So, in an effort to make a living, she’s pursued job opportunities in Atlanta. She’s now a proud employee of a wireless communication company. Yea her!
In telling her story to me, knowing I’m in HR, she highlighted two of the recruiting and onboarding experiences she went through.
The first just make me shake my head. After interviewing with a company in Ohio, the HR Professional she dealt with told her she needed to offer the job to her because she was the only woman that had applied and they have a government contract to maintain.
And the other….
After accepting the offer in Atlanta, having not met the hiring manager or visited the building she’ll be working in, she asked to simply do these things. Now, from my perspective these seem like reasonable requests but the HR Professional she dealt with apparently looked at her like she had two heads. The HR Professional actually told her that had never been asked and was not a usual part of the process.
Ok, how do you hire on a professional level and not introduce the candidate to the hiring manager? How is the hiring manager not involved in that decision? Am I crazy here?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
No, you’re not crazy. Meeting your manager and seeing where you’ll be working are essentials. For me, they are right up there with salary & benefits. It’s like buying a house and never visiting it beforehand.
The HR Professional (sic) has never done this before? They must have just fallen off the HR cart yesterday.
I hope the best for your stylist. But I’ll be surprised if she’s doesn’t leave that job in a short amount of time.
My sympathies to you for losing your stylist.
@Paul She and I had the conversation about if this is what their on boarding process looks like, what does the day to day processes of operations look like. She’s already planning to start looking once she has a little experience under her belt. Thanks for confirming my sanity
Wow- That is terrible onboarding for sure.. She sounds like a smart cookie. Bad, you lost your hairstylist, Good, She will no doubt be successful. Why is there so much bad HR still happening. Oy Vey..