This is one of those posts that could and would better be written as a book, but I'm dead tired and need to get a few thoughts off my chest. I've (we've) been out an HR person since February of this year and it is really starting to hurt. It was fine when we were slow and were actually trying to rid ourselves of dead weight (oh yes, I'm one of those bastard capitalist business owners who sometimes views people as dead weight)* and work on helping the good workers who remained with some overtime and a better work environment. Now, however, we're busy again. Not like last year, but enough so to keep me on my toes and to keep the revolving employment door spinning in both directions.
I let it be known to a select few that I was looking again for help. It is funny, though. The people who are supposed to be in the business of finding you the right candidates for your needs seem to be more interested in hooking someone they know up with a job. Normally, I wouldn't mind this, except it doesn't appear that people ... nay, HR professionals ... are listening to what our needs really are. Right now, I need someone to help with the bureaucracy of HR (i.e. keeping accurate employee records, time card administration, vacation request administration, etc), not doing the heavy lifting of interviewing. I need assistance... you know... like an assistant. Not an HR manager.
Furthermore, I don't know if I want an HR manager. They tend to be guideline and rule driven; not necessarily the think outside the box types. This isn't a criticism, per se, of HR people, but it is when it comes to being the type of person I think we need in our company. I think we need someone who is driven to learn about our firm, our rules and our culture. We don't want another culture imposed on ours only to find it creates undue friction. And I don't want to have that discussion again about how we know what we're doing and once you've been here a while, then start to ask and challenge, but, my little grasshopper... until then, observe.
But, I'll do it for now. I'll interview all of the [friends] who have been recommended. We'll see if anyone of them simply is excited to learn about what we do and see if they can assist. Finding good people is about sitting back and observing. Like in physics, it is difficult, if not impossible, to observe something without affecting it. Wouldn't it be nice if we could actually observe our potential employees without affecting them? That's the goal, though... and that's what so few HR people come close to comprehending.
* Well, when you're paying someone a salary and working towards the long term growth and survival of your company - not only for your sake, but that of the many, possibly hundreds of families that depend on your existence - you tend to take things like people not working while they are supposed to - and being paid for it - somewhat seriously. No, this is not a perfect world, and no, we don't expect people to be scurrying about like lemmings all of the time, but for the most part, our wish is to see product made in a sensible time frame with perfect quality. For that to come to fruition, you can't have dead weight!
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