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An Open Letter to My Friends in HR

September 15, 2009

I don’t claim to know all the ins and outs of Human Resources, but as a job seeker, here’s a letter I wish I could send to all HR people everywhere.

Dear HR,

You know those stacks of paper you have in front of you – they represent real people. People with hopes, ambitions, and dreams, many of them aching to use their knowledge and skills to help you, your company, and your cause. It’s not enough to serve them well after they are hired. If you are good at your job, you will serve them well as potential partners.

I know the job market is tough right now, but still, anyone worth your time, worth being considered and hired as a part of your organization, will be interviewing you as you interview them. They will want to know that they can trust you as an employer with their time and efforts. When you trivialize them and the time they took in preparing the necessary paperwork for you to consider by ignoring them, giving them sketchy information, and not truly being thankful that they would consider investing a huge chunk of their lives in your company, you are creating an environment for bitterness, resentment, and mistrust before a formal relationship has even begun.

If a position is worth hiring for, it must be worth thoroughly communicating, even if en mass, to prospective candidates about.

To be as plain as I can be – tell your candidates when you hope to hire by. When they submit materials, acknowledge that you received them, letting them know when you hope to follow up and then actually do follow up when you said you would.

True, there are so many people hurting for jobs that they will put up with being trivialized for the sake of a paycheck.  But are those really the people you want working for you?  Do you think they will serve you well or do just enough to get by?  Or, do you want to hire people with enough self-respect and dignity that they actually care when you treat them like crap?

Respectfully,

Your Potential Co-Worker

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