HR Departments

The hiring process when it comes to HR is unfortunately painful. The relationship between the employer and employee seems to be distant and based on reasons not related to the job or person. It's as if the game of "convince me" has to be played for entertainment purposes only. It's a sad world we live in but we can make it better.

I spoke with someone at an HR department recently about a potential job that I was very interested in and willing to do. They had me come in to a face to face interview. They grilled me with my resume and then asked if I was up for the job. I expressed to everyone at the table that my skills were adequate to get things done and I very much was up for the task. The person who was interviewing me later told me that he purposefully made it difficult to find out if I would not enjoy the job.

As I walked out the door one of the people who spoke with me said they are going to interview a few more people and then let me know the outcome in a week. In a week I called him up asking for results. He said they are working on getting some more work so they can pay the desired salary. Another week flew by and I asked him again how things were going. Not reply to the email message. After calling and talking with him directly he told me that it will take some more time but I could work as a freelancer. Possibly by next month. As the next month rolled by I got a hold of him again through email and asked if there are any new projects. It's been at least two months now and I haven't heard back.

What started as a job offer for a full-time position has resulted in no work as a freelancer. At least for now as I am writing this. For the job applicant (which is me) it's very humiliating and my faith in the company and the people has pretty much dissolved. I don't expect to hear back from them and if I were in their shoes I would think they would show enough integrity to be clear with me. If you are going to hire someone qualified then hire that person. If you are not going to hire the person you have interviewed then tell them directly. It's easy. I sometimes wonder if the case that the HR depart has such an easy job that if they did it correctly they might afraid of loosing their own job because they can't even see the value of their own actions.

Creative Note: Don't blindly trust those who work in HR. They usually are not clear and it's best to talk with someone who will provide answers. Disregarding if the message has a positive or negative effect.

Making It Happen

Sometimes in the creative world it seems as though "waiting" can be a very long moment. In some cases you just have to keep working towards the kind of work you want to do even if that result is not immediately seen by others. I decided to do that with a project that includes Tombstone candy. My goal was to create a thirty second spot and improve my After Effects and Illustrator skills. I was able to do that while staying diligent and focused on the desired outcome. In those slow moments it's good to try something new and see if it works such as creating something different in Illustrator.

Here is a one of the graphics that was used in the making of the final video:

Creative Note: Keep on refining what has been started. There will always be someone better or someone worse off but both kinds of people have the ability to collaborate and learn from each other.