The rule of the day relates to HR interviews and HR staff in general.

Take a look at the swan towels above. They look harmless but as the caption proves, they are trained in MMA and anyone who has ever watched mixed martial arts knows what a tough sport it is.

Just like the hare underestimated the tortoise in the children’s story, people often make the mistake of underestimating the importance of HR interviews and HR staff.

HR interviews and HR staff are somewhat like these swan towels. People ignore them at their peril.

OK, the swans being trained in MMA is tongue-in-cheek but the sentiment about HR interviews isn’t.

I recall one company I worked with where the HR manager had so much clout that if she didn’t like you, you weren’t getting a job with that company regardless of what the hiring manager said.

Was that too much power to give to an HR manager?

Perhaps, but that was the reality. They had a reputation of being a tough company to interview with too. I recall that they tended not to make too many hiring mistakes so perhaps their system worked just fine.

I’ve forgotten the number of times that I’ve heard someone brush off an HR interview as being a fluff interview or try to avoid having to meet with HR because they think it will be a waste of their time.

Typically, it’s technical people that do this in my experience. They seem to think that everything they know will be over the head of the mere mortal HR staffer and that they can b.s. their way through the interview.

The funny part is when the person doesn’t realize that the HR staffer used to do their job and is a techie just like them. I’ve seen that happen and it’s pretty funny to hear the HR staffer tell me post interview that the person they interviewed is a b.s. artist and tried to snow them until they found out that the HR staffer knows exactly what they were talking about.

It wasn’t funny to know that I just lost out on an opportunity to help someone get a job but it is funny to see a smart ass put in their place.

Don’t assume that the person interviewing you knows less than you do. The opposite might be true.