Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with humanresources

Online career change exercises wanted

reenum — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:22:57 -0800

Are there any websites or online resources for people considering a career change? I've been thinking of changing careers for a while, and after some recent events at the office, it's time to get up and start figuring some things out.

I'm going to get "What Color Is Your Parachute" and a few other recommended texts from other threads, but I'm wondering if there are any websites or other online resources (preferably free), that have exercises and other things I can use to try and evaluate what it is I truly want to do.

I have a lot of free time at work. For obvious reasons, I don't want to show up here with career change books.

Thanks!

Can I phone-verify and employee's doctor appointment?

Shohn — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:36:56 -0800

Can I, as a supervisor, call an employee's doctor to verify that said employee was actually seen on a certain date? It was mentioned to this employee that his number of unexcused absences was starting to creep up, though not enough to trigger any disciplinary action. Just a heads-up. So the next day he provides doctor's notes for all his previously unexcused absences, the earliest of which was in July. All these notes are dated the same day- October 22.

The weird thing is that there were two absences on consecutive days, and he brought a separate note for each. I smell a rat, but I'm wary of a potential HIPAA violation.

So since the employee and his doctor have already provided this information, can I just call the office to verify that it's true? I couldn't care less about any diagnoses or treatments or anything- I just want to know if he was really there.

If you were having dinner with any historical person of your choosing...What color would the tablecloth be?

SinisterPurpose — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:25:10 -0800

What are the most interesting or unusual questions you've ever been asked at a job interview? Spurred on by a raging FPP, I'm moving forward on a project regarding the nature of job interviews.

What have been the most memorable, surprising, or downright strange questions you've ever been asked in an interview? How did you answer them? And what was the interviewer, in your opinion, trying to get at by asking them?

And please, If there are HR people out there, are you required to ask questions you find strange? What's the strangest answer you've received to a seemingly straight forward question?

Job Board Pricing Options?

ckohrman — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:02:40 -0800

Which job board pricing model do employers prefer... pay per job post, or pay per candidate reviewed? I'm working on a project that cannot be designed further without considering the following:

Which job board pricing model do employers prefer?
1) pay by the job post.
2) pay by how many candidates you review.

In option one, you pay a flat fee up front to post a job.

In option two, you don't pay to post, but you pay to contact candidates. Includes the ability to filter and view resumes, but not contact info until payment.

Include mentions to race on a resume?

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:33:47 -0800

Is it okay to indicate race in a resume? I have recently been getting my resume in order to send out to potential companies and organizations. In my current resume I mention a scholarship I received for being an influential black male in my home town before I moved and went off to college.

It's 2009 so it's easy to suggest those things don't matter and that it's crazy but that's not always the case. The city I am looking for a job in has a very small black population and at one time was the sixth whitest city in the country for it's size (200,000+ I believe). It is basically known as a college town.

Should I let my experiences do the talking and exclude any mentions to race? I'm still fairly young, mid-20s, so any experiences or suggestions you've dealt with or seen would help.

A leader is a dealer in hope.

allkindsoftime — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:58:04 -0800

I need your all-time best snippets / excerpts / misc. bits-of-wisdom regarding leadership and management (of people, specifically). OK, so I walk into the business section of my local bookstore and the titles on leadership/management technique are seemingly endless, and half or more of them seem to be the bestsellers.

Sift through the dross for me - what's the best advice / guidance / wisdom / et. al. you ever got - be it from a book or an alternative source. Book recommendations are fine but I'd like to understand why you are recommending it - what in it worked for you in real life? Give me some of the bait to get me hooked.

What tips and tricks helped you grow as a people leader, how did you execute them, and what happened?

Help me break into the Human Resources field!

Piscean — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:27:44 -0800

How can a person with no HR experience get a job in Human Resources? I am an unemployed qualitative sociologist who had to drop out of college before completing my Ph.D after becoming a victim of economic layoffs a few months ago. I already have an MA in sociology and do plan to return to my doctoral program. In the meantime, I need a job. My past 20 years of work experience have been in social services, IT work and qualitative sociology (research). I have been interested in moving into the Human Resources field and have found open positions; unfortunately, every job -even entry-level positions- requires prior HR experience. I am willing to work as an intern while I am on unemployment in order to gain experience, but have yet to find such opportunities (and of course I actually prefer to work, as I need the income). Does anyone have any ideas to help me break into this career?

How to discipline an employee?

foxinthesnow — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:22:01 -0800

I need to discipline an employee for extreme tardiness, but I don't know how. You see, my employee was two and a half hours late for her scheduled shift today. The day before, she told me that she may be up to a half hour late because of an appointment, and I told her that would be fine, but then she shows up two and a half hours late today, without calling.

Normally, I would just give it to her straight, and say something along the lines of "this is unacceptable behavior," but this is her first job, and she is very young, and very sensitive, and I think that in her mind, her telling me that she would be a half hour late is the same as telling me she would be two and half hours late. And I know she has never had a boss discipline her before. And I am used to working with people that have more professional experience than she does, and I know that they can handle criticism. I do not want to hurt her feelings because I do like her, and I don't want her to be frightened of me. I simply want to make sure that she understands why it is important to come to work on time without worrying that she will harbor ill feelings toward me for the rest of her tenure. Unfortunately, I am not known for being sensitive.

So, how would you gingerly tell someone that her behavior was unacceptable without making her think you are a jerk or overreacting?

Should I warn another employer about an ex-employee?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:22:06 -0800

I had a seriously unpleasant experience with a former employee in the aftermath of his termination, and I have since learned that he is employed at a similar business in another city. Is it my place to warn them? This person stole money (which led to his termination) and then after being fired, attempted to retaliate in various ways, including destruction of property. There is much more to the story but let it suffice to say that the person proved himself to be unquestionably a bad news character, perhaps even sociopathic. I do not, however, consider him a danger to anyone (at least in terms of a physical threat).

Upon learning that he was employed at a similar business elsewhere (he left town after all the aforementioned went down), it occurred to me that perhaps I should warn the relevant people at this other business. They hadn't called for a reference. I don't believe my motivation to be vindictive, but rather, for the reason that I would have appreciated such a warning from a credible source before hiring the person. Still, I can't decide if it's the right or wrong thing to do. What Would Metafilter Do?

Thanks for the interview!

pxe2000 — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:00:13 -0800

How soon after a job interview should I send a thank-you note? I have a few job interviews lined up in the coming weeks (including one for what could be a dream job). Because I am forgetful, and because at least one of them is a significant commute from my home, I'd like to send a thank-you note as soon as I leave the interview -- have the envelope stamped and ready to mail, etc. Would receiving a thank-you note within a few days of the interview appear overeager?

Additionally, a few of the positions are in corporate settings. Obviously I don't want to send any thank-you notes with colorful sayings on them (to wit: "People as nice as you are tend to be mentally incapacitated or on ecstacy, but you're just REALLY REALLY NICE" -- yes, this is a real card). Would a letterpress card with a cute animal or other insignia on the front be considered appropriate, or should I go with as plain a card as possible?

My cup runneth over

Fupped Duck — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:17:31 -0800

I am a web developer, and was working for 9 mos for a large corporation as an outside contractor paid through an agency. Good company, great job and better still, they hired me a month ago as a full time employee, with benefits, corner office--all the trimmings. The Employee handbook says new hires get to fill a cup with their urine since its a "drug free workplace" but rehires don't. After that an existing employee can only be (re)tested for just cause. In short: I was given a job offer and I accepted. I went through orientation a leisurely 3 weeks and 1.5 paychecks later, but its now been a month and they still haven't asked me to fill the cup. My urine would be clean as of today. When can I safely assume the time to appropriately ask me to fill the cup has expired? I really miss burning the rope...

Is "Human Resources Manager" really a great job or is Money magazine lying to me?

Rosie M. Banks — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:39:07 -0800

I noticed that Human Resources manager was on Money Magazine's "Best Jobs" list. I want to hear from people with experience in the field - is it all it's cracked up to be? For the record, I'm changing careers, and wrapping up a MA in Organizational Psychology (starting my thesis RIGHT NOW!). While my focus is coaching, organizational development, and diversity training (and I'm currently doing my field placement in this area), I've considered the field of HR as well.

The fact that HR manager appeared on this list of "best jobs" piqued my interest. However, I don't know if it really is a good job to have. (Or, indeed, if these lists of "great jobs!" really mean anything, but that's another post.) So I'm seeking opinions from people who are HR managers, have held that job, know the field well, and so on for an insider's report. Is it really a fulfilling job that's fairly easy to enter and pays well, as per Money magazine?

Why Human Resources?

MtDewd — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:03:16 -0800

In researching this question, I found this quote: "When Personnel became Human Resources, we all lost something.", which exactly sums up my feeling today. Does anyone know when and why 'Personnel' became 'Human Resources'? Was there a 'good' reason, or is it just trendy?
Might it have come out of an MBA program or a certain theorist?

It seems to me I noticed the HR term first in the 80's and it coincided [?] with other negative changes in the workplace. I worked for a large corporation for 30 years and it was definitely a better place to work when there was a Personnel Department then when there was an HR Department..
I find just the term Human Resources to be demeaning- I am no longer a person, but just a resource.

Can anybody tell I've been filling out my Employee Self-Evaluation today?

Targeting Hiring Managers

gm2007 — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:48:44 -0800

Targeting Hiring Managers Through Online Professional Networks Using Linkedin, I have been able to identify by name hundreds of hiring managers and/or other HR types at companies for which I would like to work. With their name, and general location, it is likely that I can find an address where I can get these individuals a personally addressed cover letter and resume. What are some unique, but professional ways I could target these individuals. Would it be better to do a paper mailing, or try to contact them online through their Linkedin accounts?

What are my rights in this workplace dispute?

Biblio — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:58:08 -0800

A bad work situation gets even worse...I need advice about my rights in the workplace. Things at work have gotten increasing bad over the past view months. 2 of my co-workers and I contacted our HR dept. separately and unbeknownst to each other. HR suggested the 3 of us get together, write up our complaints and go to our boss's boss, who I'll call VP. (Because he's a VP!)

We did as HR suggested, and wrote up 3 pages of issues that we had. Many of these issues are quite serious, such as our boss lying to us to obtain our network logins and passwords, sharing our personal medical information with staff, failing to set policies or follow existing policies, etc. We met with VP after giving him this list and, at his insistence, HR was not present. We did cc the list of complaints to HR.

During the meeting, VP acknowledged that our boss had not followed procedure. Still, all he said was that he would speak to her. When I complained that I thought she had violated our rights, he told me I could file a "formal" complaint with HR. This confused all 3 of us, since we thought that's what we had done.

VP spoke to the boss over a week ago. The immediate result is that the boss canceled our staff holiday party and started asking other staff members if they knew who the "ringleader" was. Certainly nothing got better. Then, on Thursday, VP asked us to a meeting with him and our boss. Again, HR was not invited. The meeting is scheduled for this Friday.

The 3 of us can't see how this meeting can possibly resolve our issues. VP insists that no one is in danger of losing their job and that we just need to sit down together and talk it out. The problem is, without HR involvement, none of this is documented and official.

One of the problems is that we have no staff organization or union, and we don't have an official grievance procedure, so we have no idea how this should go. I guess my question is, can we insist that HR be involved in this meeting? If we resend our list of complaints to HR before the meeting and specifically say "this is a formal complaint" will that be enough to get them involved? Can VP simply say "no, I don't want this to be an HR issue?" which is what he basically said the first time we met with him? Do we have a right to have HR there? We're in MA, if that helps.

Thanks.

Have Studies Been Done On Criminal Background Check Accuracy?

peacecorn — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:53:10 -0800

How reliable, statistically speaking, are criminal background checks? Criminal background checks from a large national agencies (ADT, ChoicePoint, etc) obviously aren't infallible. But has anyone done actual studies on this topic?

I'm asking from an employer's perspective, not as some scofflaw looking to see what my chances of "slipping through the cracks" are. I need to report on how thorough and complete these checks really are, so I'm looking for hard data.

I found this MSNBC article in which an expert off-handedly mentions "we've done studies and...," and I saw this from the CS Monitor which uses a small sample sized criminology study.

Problem is, I'm not sure these data points represent enough evidence to counter the gut-feeling assumptions of my audience of the infallibility of the background check process.

The ideal study would be of a large sample and would focus on felons slipping through the cracks due to missing data (i.e., credit check data is useless, and details about the many people with data that IS on their report in error isn't as helpful as I'd like).

Anything like that out there?

Reid Report (AAR) pre-employment test?

rainbaby — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 17:42:45 -0800

Information on The Reid Report (AAR) pre-employment testing? Anyone take it? Fail it? Have a sample test? A friend just failed one of these and I'm not familiar with the test. It seems to be a closely guarded product, and I haven't found a sample. Has anyone had to take this test? It's designed to screen for workplace honesty and integrity and takes about fifteen minutes. Thanks.

How much notice to give?

Anonymous — Thu, 31 May 2007 10:29:23 -0800

Ontario employment law: I'm quitting my job to go back to school full-time in September. I'm currently employed full-time as an engineer. I want to tell my employer as far in advance as possible that I am leaving so that everyone knows what's going on, but I want to minimize the risk of finding myself unemployed and unpaid early. How much notice should I give? I've worked at this company for six years, and the company is large enough to pass the $2.5M payroll requirement for severance pay. I want to keep working until the latest possible time because I can use the money, so I don't want to give them an opportunity to let me go early and not pay me for some of that time.

But I also don't want to screw them over by giving really short notice, and I would like to stop having to keep my plans a secret, especially while being assigned projects which will obviously run beyond my last day. And I don't want to burn bridges because I may still be involved in the industry a few years from now when I graduate.

If I give months' worth of notice because I'm going back to school and the company lets me go early, will I still collect termination and severance pay under Ontario law? If so, how many weeks' worth? Is there anything else I should keep in mind when choosing how much notice to give?

(The whole matter doesn't seem big enough to actually involve a lawyer, but are there specialized legal information resources for questions like this I should talk to instead?)

No, really: you want to hire me!

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 08:23:42 -0800

Did my dream job pass on my application? Is there any way for me to ask them to reconsider? In February, my dream job was posted on the company’s website. Since I won’t be available to start a new job until May, I didn’t apply. When I saw that the posting was still up over a month later, I submitted my resume in late March. The next day, the posting was taken off the company website. Then, about a week ago, the exact same job was posted on a job search site (ie, Monster, HotJobs, etc).

The company only contacts applicants who are invited for interviews, and I haven't been contacted at all.

What am I to make of this? The obvious answer is that they passed on my application, which kills me because I’m completely qualified for this job and I want it so much.

A friend suggested calling to ask about the status of the search for position, without asking for information about the status of my application specifically. Another suggested calling to ask whether I should re-submit my credentials since the job was re-posted. (Both suggestions are hampered by the fact that I can’t find a phone number for the company’s human resources department. I might have to send an email instead.)

What should I do?

Help me apply to the same job where I screwed up big-time as a teenager.

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 20:06:42 -0800

Help me apply to the same job where I screwed up as a teenager. When I was 17, right out of high school, I taught some SAT prep classes for Kaplan. It was a great job and I was good at the teaching for what that's worth, but I was also pretty slack and unprofessional — it was my first "real job" ever and I just didn't know how to behave. Ultimately, though, it was one big mistake that did me in: I agreed to teach a class at another location, got lost en route, showed up late, and then lied about it to my supervisor. They fired me, obviously, and that was that.

After almost ten years in the work force it's perfectly clear to me why that was a dumb thing to do, and I sure as hell wouldn't pull it again. I'm also pretty sure I'm on a list somewhere as "not eligible for rehire." Once or twice during college I tried to apply for Kaplan jobs (at different locations, in another state) and despite good test scores and solid interviews I couldn't even get a phone call returned.

Now I'm moving again for grad school and a part-time job teaching GRE classes would be just what I need. There's a Kaplan location on campus, my scores are good enough, and I'd love to apply — but for all I know, I'm still on that list. What can I do to demonstrate that I'm not that flaky kid anymore and at least get my application considered?

Yeah, I'll probably apply to Princeton Review too. But Kaplan's got a more convenient location — and, silly as it sounds, it would be nice to be able to clear my name. So while I know the odds are against me, I'd like to try anyway, and I'm wondering what I can do to improve my odds.

keyword optimization for resumes

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 07:43:12 -0800

What methods/software do HR departments use to scan resumes for keywords? What are ways to 1.) optimize your resume for this process, or 2.) game this system to increase your chances of surviving the first cull. I felt ignorant when a friend told me about keyword scans for resumes recently. It was like "no way, you mean they..." all the way to "oh, yeah... of course they.." in about 8 crowded seconds in my brain.

So I thought, jesus... that's kind of diabolical. How many job offers did I lose last year because i tried to save my formatting by putting "MapInfo Prof." when they were looking for "MapInfo Professional" or something, y'know?

How do these scans work? What types of word-banks are they looking for? How to game the system?

I have no problem, ethically, with gaming it... I only send resumes out for jobs that I feel qualified for. I'd like to get it in front of a human, if at all possible.

Many thanks.

You're the hiring manager... are you open or stone faced with the candidates?

Flem Snopes — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:46:11 -0800

As a hiring manager, would you ever give a candidate a hint (subtle or not) that he/she has the inside track on the position, or is it always best to put in a poker face in this scenario? I have been interviewing with a firm for a management job for over three months. I have been through five separate rounds, interviewing with my potential reports on up to the CEO and COO of the company. Though, I have been told throughout, that all of the feedback has been positive, they are interviewing a "handful of other candidates" and I cannot detect any hint at all that they are leaning either toward or against hiring?

Is this common with everyone else's experience? Setting aside my personal situation, what is everyone else's experience? Was there a job that you interviewed for that you were sure that you screwed up the interview, and they ended up making you an offer? Or was there a time where you were confident that you nailed it, and they ended up passing you over?

As a manager, is it necessary to to be non-committal up to the point of hiring someone, or would you favor passing hints to candidates that, you have to put them through the process, but you're pretty sure they should be looking elsewhere? I'm not looking for advice on my particularly situation (though that is welcome), I'm more interested in other peoples' experiences with same.

Human resources consulting in Ontario Canada?

saraswati — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:46:51 -0800

Free or cheap human resources consulting for a start up in Ontario, Canada? Here's the situation:

A partnership registered in Ontario, Canada needs to hire its first employees soon but desperately requires some human resources advice. Short of going to one of the big consulting firms, is there a cheap or free service that we can talk to? I'm thinking government based or non-profit?

Help me fire someone.

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 04:43:13 -0800

Some advice on terminating an employee, please. There is much I'm in a new position where I have a number of direct reports. One of my salaried employees does substandard work, shows no commitment (she leaves no later than 5:00, goofs off on the internet, and then has the gall to complain about deadlines), and doesn't take instruction well. I can explain exactly what needs to be done, at 9:00 in the morning, and at the end of the day what I get is half the job, and that half is done poorly. She is a writer, by he way.

Another thing is, this person deliberately sneaks out of the office every afternoon - the quickest way out is to walk right past my door, but she never does. She goes the long way, and I think it is so that I don't see her. Finally, I don't think she is properly reporting time off.

So - what do I do? A few specifics here - is it OK for me to ask HR to pull her time off records? And what is your advice for getting around the usual procedure of cooking up some 90-day probationary period and setting goals for the person, etc. I want her out. Now. She has been here since I got here, and is past the initial 90-day " trial" period. Also, how do I catalog her deficiencies - she's been turning work in on time, but as I said, it is unusable, and sometimes not complete. Since the work involves writing on arcane subject matter, it is not immediately apparent to non-experts that the work I'm getting is half-baked, sloppy, etc.

Oh, and what if someone (potential employer) comes asking for a recommendation? I can not in good conscience recommend this person for another writing job.

Thanks!

Should I switch into a career in human resources?

onepapertiger — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:01:06 -0800

Should I switch into a career in human resources? I currently work in public relations and I'm pretty tired of it. I have always wanted to move to a new place every five years or so, and I have a hard time finding open positions in other cities for my particular speciality in PR. However, I notice that in every city I would like to move to (Indianapolis, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, etc), you can generally count on there being an open HR generalist position (my data was culled from Craigslist and Hotjobs). So I thought I'd just get my master's in human resources management and get on with it. Plus, it pays better than PR.

Am I wrong? What fields are best for people who would like to pick up and move every few years?