Anyone in Human Resources?

[Allisonfaye]

I have a question for anyone in HR. My husband was approached by a large company in another city about a job. He is sort of ''known'' in his field, especially lately. So we figured they would fly him to their city to interview. Then they called back to set up a meeting and told him their HR rep would come meet him in our city before they have him fly to their city. I have never heard of this before. Isn''t the HR person usually the last person they have you meet? I can''t even imagine what they would have him talk to the HR person about before he even meets the people he would be working for. Does anyone have any ideas what they might be doing? He asked and they said this is standard procedure but didn''t elaborate on what it would be about.

 

[qtiekiki]

I am not in HR, but I had have a phone interview with a HR person before I was considered for an interview with the company. They are basically scanning out the applicant, so that the team leaders or exec don''t have to meet every applicants but only those the HR considered to have potential. Although I think it''s weird for your DH''s situation since they contacted him, but maybe they just want to follow HR policies for everyone.

 

[sumbride]

I''ve always met with HR before the person I''d be working for. It is a screening mechanism, and since they''re flying the HR person out, it''s possible they''re meeting with more than one person in your area and just want to do it effeciently.

 

[~*Alexis*~]

I have been an HR manager. One reason they might do that is because of contract negotiations. Why would they want to fly someone out there to find out they paid them for a free trip and they don''t "fit". Passing backround checks and everything else. HR could also be in charge of weeding out canidates based on this meeting as well.

 

[Mara]

random HR pet peeve that this Q made me think about. it drives me nuts when companies use HR as a screening mechanism based on keywords off resumes, or similar. it's my experience that HR typically has no real idea of what the specific job entails, so they just do their general HR thing which is ask pre-determined questions that they don't really understand the answers to. and then they 'weed out' candidates that sometimes are excellent based on their limited knowledge. around here it is very common for HR to be the interface between the applicant and the hiring manager but i find that many times they just muck up the situation by getting information incorrect, or relaying it wrong to the manager, or just being kind of a pain in the butt middle-man. things always seem to go so much more smoothly when there is not an HR person involved in my experience.

in this situation, it seems kind of silly to fly an HR person out there to talk to your husband and what? ask him questions about a position they don't understand? they don't have to fly out here to do a background check on someone. and a phone interview would suffice seemingly if they wanted to get some sort of sense of him. really random in my opinion. and a waste of $$ for the company on a trip like that.

 

[Morticia]

I''ve worked in HR for large companies and whenever we were bringing people in to interview, they always met with someone from HR first.

 

[Allisonfaye]

What did they do, Morticia?

 

[KimberlyH]

I worked in HR for a mid-sized commercial and residential real estate company. The recruiter was the first person to interview for every open position and if the candidate was up to par he/she would be passed on to the potential supervisor. HR was a vital function within this company; it was our job to have knowledge of every position held within the company. The company also used tests/assessments to assess employees suitability for employment. In my opinion HR is too involved in the day to day goings on of this particluar company, but it was the way the executive team designed the company.

I also worked for a PEO, which is basically off-site HR for small to mid-sized businesses who don''t want to handle the employee side of things. We frequently did first round screening and interviews of candidates for positions in many different fields including medical and insurance.

I don''t think it''s uncommon. Hope this helps and good luck to your husband.