Page 44 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

CHAPTER 3

THE CREDIBLE ACTIVIST AT WORK

WHEN HR PROFESSIONALS INTERVIEW
FOR HR POSITIONS

When you are interviewing for HR positions of any kind, there are several questions you
should ask, and you must remember that you are interviewing the company just as much as
they are interviewing you. This is extremely important and not just some hyped-up job-hunt-
ing sound bite. Because HR professionals can be held personally liable and sued by current
and former employees for their role in certain employment decisions, this is a very real issue.
Do take notes on the answers to your questions, and do note the demeanor and appar-
ent emotional intelligence of those whom you encounter during your recruitment process.
Your asking these questions may make the company decide that you are not the kind of HR
professional it wants, and if that is the case, it is good news for everyone. Consider it a first
date in which you are both spared months or years of misery, because you saw early on that
you just weren’t compatible.
You will also want to be able to meet the person to whom you will be reporting. This
is very important. You need to know who this person is, what he or she is like, what his or
her qualifications are, what his or her understanding of HR is, and whether or not you feel
you could report to this person. Having an informational interview by discussing previous
situations you have handled or that have come up at the company or in his or her career is
one good way to do this. Just get a feel for how this person communicates, how the person
responds to being asked questions, and how comfortable you feel with him or her. Always
have all of your typed references with complete contact information including full name,
address, phone numbers, e-mail address, references’ relationships to you, and positions you
both held as well as several copies of your résumé available at your interviews.
You don’t want to wind up in a situation where you work for a company that is employ-
ing illegal aliens, engaging in fraud, or otherwise placing you and every other stakeholder
in a precarious position. You don’t want to be in a situation where sexual harassment is
allowed to run rampant without appropriate complaint mechanisms and investigative pro-
cedures. You don’t want to work for a company that has high injury rates because work-
place safety laws are considered optional.
You want to ensure you join a company that understands what HR is, values HR, and
includes you in processes as is appropriate. You want to make sure there are codes of con-
duct regarding behavior and that policies and procedures apply to all employees consis-
tently, including leadership.
You also want to be sure you clearly understand what the HR role at that particular
company is and is not. HR’s role will be very different in different companies depending on

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