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> That's a tough call. My limited job hunting experience has taught me that
> meeting an HR person does not always reflect how the company is run. A
> letter to the company could expose a weak HR person, or eliminate you from
> consideration as a potential troublemaker. I usually try to judge a
> company by the way my potential peers/superiors answer *my* questions
> regarding the company and its working environment. HR people often deal
> with so many candidates (for a variety of positions) that they shouldn't
> be expected to know everything about your area of expertise.
>
My general feeling regarding HR people is that they do what they're told
to do, and frequently behave in interview situations as if they're
working from a script. In the situation in question, I suspect the HR
person was given a set of questions and was actually expected to take
notes on how the person answered, both technically and personally.
These notes would then likely be used by the Pubs Manager to screen out
people who weren't technically qualified and who gave signs that their
style of interaction might prove problematic in some kinds of team
environments.
If you assume that was the scenario, then you also have to assume that
the process would screen out people who gave flippant answers or reacted
negatively to any of the questions. In other words, this company was
after technically competent people who were unflappable and had pretty
vanilla personalities.
Better them than my company!
Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems
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