If you enjoy firing people, please don’t work in HR
If you enjoy firing people, please don’t work in HR
“Roy’s Job Fair” brought up two types of HR people —only one of which we need more of
I’ve lost count of the number of people who I’ve hired as interns, contractors and/or employees. I’ve worked in middle management. I’ve been on a condo board. I’ve been the lead editor of a few publications. In all of the above, I’ve been in charge of hiring people or companies. And every time I find (who I think is) a winner, I’m the equivalent of these two women above. I’m ecstatic. I want this company or person to work out. I’m hoping I can bring the hiring process to a close and have a solid team.
Unfortunately, I’ve been off the mark a few times and then ended up being this lady (below), realizing I have to cut ties and be a hiring manager all over again in hopes of getting the next one right.
When people are hired, they’re not meant to be your friends. They’re definitely not blood relatives. And the goal is to find someone qualified and compatible with the company. So there will always be ups and downs. Even I have been the person who was hired, the person who quit, the person who was laid off and even the person who was fired.
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Because I’ve been on both sides, at some point, you just get used to it. You go into the hiring process knowing that some people simply won’t work out. No matter how impeccable the resume looks, that doesn’t mean that person will work out well for the job. Still, I’m never happy about it. Ever. So I found the hiatus episode of “Roy’s Job Fair” disturbing — although I’m a huge fan of Roy Wood Jr. If you’ve never listened to the job-themed podcast, the co-hosts talk about job openings, job firings, job scams and workplace banter.
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But on this episode (while Roy Wood Jr. figures out his future after Trevor Noah left “The Daily Show), two Human Resources reps discussed what it’s like to terminate an employee. The guest on the show is 15-year HR rep Patrick, who once terminated 100 people in eight hours. The second HR person is a co-host of the show: Jacqueline.
(Full disclosure: As much as I liked her opinions in the first few episodes, in later episodes, she came off as know-it-all, unconvincingly innocent of all sex-related topics, frustratingly into gun rights talk, and asking idiotic “side bar” questions like whether shoe size matches penis size — to a guest who handled shoe maintenance when she was 5 years old.)
The HR rep no one needs at their company
When the topic of terminating 100 employees in eight hours came up (skip to 23:25), her response was to say the following: “Yaaaas!” When Roy Wood Jr. wanted to clarify whether she was cheering in a celebratory tone, she gushed, “Absolutely.”