The demise of etiquette in HR

In 2009, I decided to pursue an MBA in Human Resource Management, simply out of curiosity. It seemed to me even then, that the field of HR had still not established itself as concretely as Marketing, General Management, Sales, Education and others. Almost seven years down the line, and despite having graduated Magma cum Laude, I have sadly retained very little of what was taught. This is obviously not just preferential amnesia or selective retention. It is simply because I still haven't found out what I needed to know.

Busy hiring managers

I have often wondered about what hiring managers think; how they think; how well they understand the needs of the organisation to find the perfect fit; and whether or not they are able to mutually care about the organisation and the candidates who express their eagerness to serve them.

A common perception about hiring managers ingrained in our minds from numerous websites telling us to customise our CV this way and that (because it will only get a mere six seconds) is that they are incredibly busy people. Now, after a good few years of interacting with hiring managers, I am yet to understand what it is that keeps them so busy if they can't spare more than six seconds to carefully select the right candidate. I mean, excuse my naïveté, but anyone can assume that a major component of their very job description would require them to ensure they are selecting the right candidates for the organisation.

Recruiting shortcuts

In the context of Bangladesh, there are still those hiring managers who shortlist candidates based on their CGPA. In this day and age, where a strong personality can either make or break a deal while representing a company, such hiring managers should ideally be extinct. Then there are those with a tad more patience to glance at your previous work experience to see if you've worked for any of the "top dogs" in the industry.  This plays the crucial role of shortening their strenuous task by assuming your candidacy based on the credibility of other big companies.

The infamous cover letter

One might hope that with so many global experts passing on their advice online about how important the cover letter really is, it might be the one thing to help us score us more than six seconds of the hiring manager's attention.  A friend and I were chatting about this recently and we joked about how unreal, robotic and scripted we sound writing borrowed sentences like: "I am a compassionate, dedicated individual who will be an asset to your company based on my credentials." Who talks like that in real life and who falls for it? Even product advertisements are no longer that blatant! We wondered how it would fare with our local hiring managers if a cover letter maybe flowed more like an honest and interesting introduction. The obvious answer staring us in the face was that our busy hiring managers would probably not take it in good humour or be intrigued enough to call us in for an interview.

Connections and favours

Amongst some common HR practices in the region, which explain hiring managers' nonchalance and give HR a bad name, are connections and favours. No matter how good your CV and cover letter might be (and especially considering that most companies seek job applications primarily via email), I'm a tad disappointed, though barely shocked, to realise that even today, as long as you have that uncle, friend or cousin who knows someone at the top, that entire aforesaid process of application is purely a waste of time.

Rejection etiquette

One thing the majority of hiring managers, even in some international organisations, do not seem to spend much time on is rejecting applicants the right way.

Roy Maurer, online manager for Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says, "How applicants feel they were treated, whether or not they ultimately get the job, is critically important to a company's brand, according to countless studies on the subject." A company can significantly improve its image by better training the hiring manager who is often the first point of contact for all interested job applicants.

When asked what the biggest mistake employers make when rejecting applicants in an interview with SHRM, Brin McCagg, CEO and founder of Recruitify, a crowd-based recruiting program, said: "The biggest mistake employers can make is leaving their candidates in the dark. It's easy to shrug off applicants who will ultimately not be hired, but these applicants took the time to apply and showed interest in your company. Why would employers want to squash their interest by ignoring them?"

According to McCagg, the best way to communicate rejection is to be honest and straightforward. "There's no need to string them along or tell them that a position may open up in the future. If that's not true, and you're just sugar coating their rejection, then that's the wrong way to go about it."

I can only hope this will change soon and when it does, it will be a significant step forward for the field of HR. Courtesy and good manners need to be stated as prerequisites of hiring managers. Rejection might be an uncomfortable task to do, but you cannot possibly feel worse than the person on the receiving end of the rejection.

The writer has an MBA in Human Resource Management and is a former university lecturer