Thursday, September 24, 2015

Oh, you search 'key words', let me pad it a bit!

This morning, a Whats app message from a college friend asked me "What are 3 top reasons, people fake their resume? (some call it padding or puffing the resume). This friend is a senior HR professional! 
I responded to the message (not directed at him, but in general) as below-
1. To cover gaps that embarrass him! (Just using him but you can assume both sexes) 
2. To regret how he lived another man's life, and 
3. To get back to life, searching for the spine and get ready for another F#$#$@* fake life

Imagine , how offending each of these responses look like if these are truths for that person! 
Another HR friend and MBA batch-mate had called me a week back asking for, how to get his resume shortlisted for the HR role. He is an MBA-HR but working in Change management for past 6/7 years. I asked him to add some consulting project snippets as supplements to his resume, citing change management through HR change interventions!

He told me that recruiters, who shortlist our resumes look for "key words" and that they may not find in his resume for a typical HR role, he suspects! This was a flash to me and then I did some quick research on HR resumes on the job boards and found that"Key words are key to shortlisting".
For example on HR resumes, I noticed that the RESUME HEADLINES which contained HRBP, HR GENERALIST, HR MANAGER and likes of common keywords, were viewed and downloaded 4 to five  times more than other and much better resumes, that did not use the same trick! 

ON FULL RESUME BODY SEARCH, the same trick worked! The resumes which were lengthier and contained all possible HR words (almost every word from MBA-HR syllabus or HR dictionary of real and imaginary words, concepts, etc) were viewed and downloaded much higher(4 to 5 times) than, other resumes which missed on all related terminologies (ingredients).
One more trend I noticed, was that many premier B school mid management candidates, who had joined their new employer in past 3 to 6/7 months were back on the job board with updated company, title, notice period and compensation details! I am extremely surprised to see this. Is there a common and general anxiety setting in high cost HR folks at many companies today? Are new organisational/role expectations from these guzzlers making them feel the heat? Are they not ready for the real delivery? Are they expecting the same elite treatment just for the elite name of their MBA college? 

We have also seen recent exodus to advisory roles as they say, to HR Heads of two e commerce companies in Bangalore recently!
Are HR leaders (I am just using this leader adjective to define seniors in HR) not able to realize that real-world demands from the role has drastically changed and they are no more treated as pontiffs and preachers perched on high pedestal, blowing HR jargons that have lost their applicability and significance long back against that ever changing and highly sophisticated business models.
Ignore the above facts....enjoy this video, recitation of Faiz by Piyush Mishra! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pSSEWSXi9g

Time to stop Employee Farming!

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