HR horror stories

16 July 2009

2 minute read

Following various deprecatory comments on this site about the HR profession, we've looked into whether things are really as bad as they seem. Upon investigation, the main critics appear to be recruiters, who have the following horrid things to say about their close genetic relatives:

· "It's always helpful to speak to the line, but HR will sometimes get on a high horse and say come through me and I'll pass on the message. It just doubles the amount of time it takes to do anything."

· "The worst thing is when they hire people we've introduced to them behind our backs. When we query this they then lie about the size of the package they're paying in order to reduce the fee. You'll get a guy who you know was paid $4m last year and they'll say they got him for 100k. The trouble is that they get paid according to how much money they can save."

· "They're always trying to set up in-house databases, and they tell you that if you want to do business with them you'll have to enter candidates' information onto their database first. Eventually they'll have a database of their own and won't need you any more."

· "They love to try and disrupt your relationship with the line manager. If you've got a good relationship with the line you can often avoid them - the line manager will take the whole process forward without HR and bring them in at the end to draw up the contract. However, HR tend to remember this and the recruiter always gets kicked in the end."

· "They're generally a lot of 'dolly birds' who need to justify their position."

There were also some nice things said about HR. "The good ones understand their roles in the process and don't try to control it too much," said one headhunter. "As facilitators they can marshall MDs and prompt feedback if they're too busy to give it."

"It's much better now because all the rubbish HR people have been sacked," said another one.

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

Mr
Mr Pooter the 3rd
21 July 2009
There are some very good HR people in Switzerland: they recognise when the headhunter knows what he/she is talking about and welcome giving the HH access to line. There are HR people who are there to help and those whose prime role in life is to hinder. There is also that rave from the grave the "resourcing team" Number driven, no idea of the market in which they operate and highly possessive of "their" line mng. There does seem to be a few of these around again which is highly unfortuante for any line mng that actually wants to recruit!
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Bo
Bored of Louise2850
21 July 2009
@Louise2850
I'm still bored. At least this time you've managed to put together a comprehendable sentence!
Back to your original point. The financial services industry has undergone rapid development over the course of the last two decades. Therefore we need new solutions for new problems. Therefore your arguments that one person should be responsible to all hiring activity within a small-medium size firm (let alone a large one) is defunct. Further, Human resource managers need to play a more active role within any bank or institutions (especially for cost-associated issues around Human Capital). Companies should also limit the number of recruitment agencies and search firms they work with; set up transparent processes with properly vetted companies. And lastly, once a role and process is initiated there must be a clear line of communication between the line, the HR manager and the recruiter.
I believe this to be a straight forward way of approaching the issue. And I'm confident my opinion is credible as I come from a Corp Strategy and Governance background within Investment Banking.
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Lo
Louise2850
21 July 2009
@bored
At least I had a point! Anyone with an understanding of the english language would have gotten it. You on the other hand obviously are a rather unintelligent human being who couldn't come up with a valid point if your life depended on it. So you go around making snide comments towards other people. Go and be bored somewhere else!
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Bo
Bored
20 July 2009
@Louise2850
Can you please learn to articulate yourself, or try to learn proper command of the English language. I'm sure you had an important and relevant point to make but you've ended up making yourself sound like an idiot :)
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Lo
Louise2850
20 July 2009
You know what makes me chuckle? all this arguing and moaning... please cast your minds back 20 or so years ago, before the time when we needed HR and all that silly admin rubbish that comes with it... before recruitment agencies were a reality.... if companies cannot be depended on to hire one person (or however many needed) to recruit their own dam staff, then they and anyone who works for them only have themselves to blame... these jobs and I think most of you would have to agree have been made up out of thin air and if the world was going to end tomorrow NONE of them (in fact probably most of the 'finance' world) would be completely irrelevant and peg off at the first sign of trouble.
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