Another update from the Jungle….
Erica is interviewing for a job as the HR manager for a small privately held company. Erica heard about the job opening from a friend. She is looking for a change after growing bored with her current employer.
Erica is capped on pay and promotions with her current employer unless her boss dies or retires, neither of which seems likely. Months ago, Erica suggested a special project working with IT to upgrade some of the creaking systems that slow down productivity and offered to lead the project task force. Her offer was rejected by her boss and her boss’s boss, leaving Erica with the impression that they weren’t serious about productivity gains or keeping her engaged as an employee.
So Erica decided to move on. She applied for the HR manager opening and was invited in for an interview. At the interview,
she waits in the shabby lobby for 20 minutes past the time her interview is scheduled to start. Finally,a man in his late 60’s steps in to the lobby to invite her to the conference room for the interview.
In the conference room, Erica blinks as she gets a closer look at her interviewer. He looks like an
extra from the Godfather movies with chunky gold rings on both hands and a large gold watch. His shirt is open half-way down his chest displaying gold chain necklaces. In a voice roughened by cigarettes and cheap whiskey, the man explains that he’s looking for an HR manager to keep the “government off his back”.
Erica asks if his company’s employment practices were audited by a government regulator but he brushes aside the question. He says that companies like his would be a lot more successful if the government would stop interfering and telling him how to run it. Then he explains that he’s had trouble in the past hiring women because “they start with single coverage on the medical plan but next thing you know, they’re on the family plan”.
What should Erica do next?
- She can call him a dinosaur, list all the federal and state employment laws he’s violated during the interview and storm out of the room.
- She can expend a lot of effort trying to get the job since the company obviously needs all the HR help it can get.
- She can send the owner a bottle of cheap scotch after the interview to thank him for his time and pray that he doesn’t offer her the job.
In the actual situation, the interviewer never made a job offer. The interviewee continues to congratulate herself on one of the narrowest escapes of her professional career.
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