Category: News Articles

People involved in Human Resources are not always human. If they were, they would easily fall into the serial killer category. Yeppers, they kill hopes. They kill dreams. They kill careers.

In today’s United States job market Human Resources (HR) employees are often ruthless. Because the seekers outnumber open positions, HR teams go overboard with fair. I just wish their fair included a Ferris Wheel, carnival games and cotton candy.

I’m among the fortunate ones. As a freelance writer, I usually get to bypass the heartless and go straight to people needing my professional skills. However, that has not always been the case. Six years ago, I personally began to feel signs of a sluggish economy while working with county
government in the Pacific Northwest. My job included a brief stint as support staff to the HR director.

It was there I learned HR experts believe people are so special they need to be issued personal identification numbers. Yep, I feel special being viewed not as a person but as a number. I was known as 942886. My boss’s personal ID number was 795793, which I thought was appropriate because she was quite odd. For the most part, my duties included screening resumes for potential employees. My boss wanted me to pick Nine out of Ten. This was tough because Ten typed better. But the boss explained her reasoning. “If ever get sued, I can tell the judge I didn’t promote or terminate the wrong employee. Nine made a typo.”

One assignment I hated involved drafting lay-off letters to almost 20 percent of the staff. While I’m a professional writer, that was tough knowing I got paid
to ruin their day. But I wasn’t there to make their day. I wasn’t Clint Eastwood. I was there to empty the chairs Clint likes to interview. Little did I know Clint Eastwood would soon have the opportunity to interrogate my empty chair. Indeed, my job became the lettuce on the chopping block. When I first read the layoff letter I typed and mailed to myself, I initially thought I made a typo. How could this be possible? I worked for the number crunchers. They lay off other people. They don’t crunch themselves.

However, it was true. My job was being phased out. But I was at the wrong place at the right time.

Read More http://www.heralddeparis.com/human-resources-personnel-are-not-always-human/189865