HRBlunders.com » interview

Could your handbook use some more profanity?

Sam Narisi — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:00:59 +0000

No one likes working with a jerk. But here’s a company that’s taking serious measures to keep them away.

New hires at SuccessFactors, a software firm based in San Mateo, CA, are required to sign off on a list of 15 corporate principles.

Number 15: “I will not be an a–hole.”

CEO Lars Dalgaard implemented that policy after years of corporate experience taught him that jerks (as we’ll call them) “stifle performance,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

As for the harsh language, he said the rule would be easier to ignore without it.

What also makes the rule tough to ignore is that Dalgaard isn’t afraid to enforce it. One time, he took a group of job candidates out to lunch at a local restaurant. Those who weren’t friendly to the waitstaff weren’t brought back to continue the interview process.

Ever worked at a company that needed a policy on jerks? Do you think a rule like Dalgaard’s is good for a company or just an impractical gimmick? Let us know your opinion in the comments section.

Applicant stabbed, but goes to interview before hospital

Fred Hosier — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:00:17 +0000

As an HR pro, what impresses you about applicants at interviews? Maybe it’s their professional demeanor, resume or responses to questions.

What if an applicant showed up for a job interview instead of going to the hospital?

That’s what an unidentified 16-year-old Toronto student did.

He and another student were stabbed near a high school.

But the student made it to his co-op placement interview at a veterinary clinic, according to The Canadian Press.

When employees at the clinic noticed blood on the student’s leg, they called police.

Both students were taken to the hospital.

Veterinarian Kent Ackerman said, “He did really well on the interview, and we were very proud of him for sticking to the appointment.” At the same time, Ackerman said he was “shocked” the teen would delay going to the hospital for the interview.

Teen misses job interview, sues prospective employer when it won’t hire him

Fred Hosier — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Darren Mirren failed to show up for his job interview. Then he sued the prospective employer when he couldn’t find his way to the office.

Mirren, a 16-year-old from Glasgow, Scotland, filed an age-discrimination claim with the employment tribunal there. The tribunal threw out his claim, saying he wasn’t hired because he didn’t show up for the interview, not because of age discrimination, according to the newspaper, The Scotsman.

Spotless Commercial Cleaning said it invited Mirren to its office for an interview. When he failed to show up, the company contacted his home where he explained he didn’t know how to get the the office.

Spotless gave him directions — just a 20-minute car ride away. He still didn’t show up.

The teen told the newspaper he still thinks he’s right — that he was discriminated against because of his age.

A spokeswoman for tribunal calls this the most bizarre case its ever been involved in.

‘Interview? Who needs an interview?’

Fred Hosier — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:00:59 +0000

You know the way it usually works: A person applies for a job, gets an interview, is hired, and then starts work. Here are two stories about people who decided they could skip key parts in that process and go right to work.

Police in Spain have arrested a man who dressed up as a police officer and directed traffic for about an hour, according to a local newspaper.

The man entered a police station where he broke into a locker and stole a uniform.

He greeted other officers as he left the station, went on “patrol,” and directed traffic in the town’s square.

His “bizarre gestures” while directing traffic tipped other officers off.

He’s charged with impersonating a police officer. As far as the police know, it was this man’s first arrest for pretending to be one in their ranks.

But a man in Queens, NY, with a long history of impersonating transit workers, has been arrested again.

He had a similar M-O: Somehow, he got a transit worker’s uniform and was arrested when he crossed into a restricted area of a train station.

Darius McCollum’s arrest is the 24th time he’s been picked up in and around New York’s trains and buses since the early 1980s.

When he was 15, McCollum drove an E train safely through lower Manhattan.

This time, he was charged with criminal impersonation, criminal trespass and possession of burglary tools.