Job Searching Tips

I’m sort of unique in my group of HR friends.  As I’ve never worked in HR.  I’m on the other side, the job seeker/employee with an issue/world changer side.  And sometimes that puts us at odds.  Like last week.

I’m happily trolling Facebook for information on my friends and the HR industry when I see a post about how women should not wear their diamond rings to job interviews with a link to an article.  The thought was that if the ring is too big, the interviewer may not think the woman “needs” the job.  Also just the mere presence of a diamond ring apparently infers that you will someday get pregnant and leave your employer high & dry.

In the very lengthy amount of comments that followed this Facebook post there was also a reference to an article about someone who drove a beat up pickup truck to an interview and didn’t get the job after the interviewer walked them out to their car.  I couldn’t find that article but am fascinated to read why exactly that was a factor in how the candidate’s skills matched or did not match the skills needed to do the job.

Now I get it.  There are people out of work, they need a job, they are asking for advice from HR and recruiters.

But I think this advice stinks!

It reminds me of when I was in my 20′s and I would start dating a guy and some of my girl friends at the time would insist that I needed to pretend to like the things he liked or the relationship was doomed.  You know, I should feign an interest in hunting, sci-fi movies, windsurfing and maybe even go as far as tagging along for these adventures when in fact…I was not interested.  I knew back then that if I had to be someone I was not, the relationship was doomed.  And that’s how I felt hearing these HR types discuss this.

I absolutely do not want to work for a company where I need to change what car I drive or hide my wedding ring to get in the door.  My tenure there would be as doomed as a relationship where I pretended I would be happy shooting & cooking bambi.

And shouldn’t HR be more interested in finding the right fit for the job, than in teaching candidates how to game the system.  And if the answer is, as some said – “hey that’s just the way it is.”  Well what are you doing to fix it?  No wonder your workforce is not engaged or is feeling work/life conflict or is looking for another job.  You’ve taught them the only way to do business at your company is to lie.

Now what am I going to do about it?  I’m going to continue to be who I am.  I will make the best first impression I can and be mindful of how I look and act.  But I am not going to rent a car or leave an integral piece of who I am at home.  And I do not recommend you do, either.

It doesn’t surprise me that I am no longer friends with those girls who insisted I needed to be other than who I was to land Mr. Perfect.  It shouldn’t surprise you that I will not work for someone who will not take me & my skills for what they are.  I may never know why a company rejected me, but if it’s because of those shallow reasons…I can only say…THANK YOU!

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