Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.
No long winded intro as I’m writing this week’s post, so we’ll go straight into it… (Ed Scrivener)
Too many roles!
This week I have truly been afflicted with writer’s block. I thoroughly enjoy writing, but I have found my initial drafts on topics such as the G4S debacle and the poor weather to be rather turgid and stale – any comments of “so what’s new” will not be warmly received! Instead I finally found a topic worth writing about that truly brought together my two passions, namely recruitment and rugby!
 |
| The reality TV star, Gavin Henson |
Last week a person known to some of you as a bronzed dancer and to others as an unfulfilled talented rugby player was given a final shot at redemption. I am of course referring to Gavin Henson the Welsh rugby player/reality TV star who was signed by the Oxfordbased team London Welsh (it’s a very long story to explain the quirk in location!). Gavin Henson first hit the limelight in the 2005 Six Nations tournament where his last minute penalty defeated World Champions England and led to an historic Welsh Grand Slam victory. He was subsequently afflicted by numerous injuries and a rather misplaced desire to be in the limelight, which rather than being about his talent tended to be more about his relationship with the singer Charlotte Church, or more often his misbehaviour as a result of an excess of alcohol. After years of support, his club side the Ospreys allowed him to leave to join the English side Saracens in order for him to be closer to his children in London. After a handful of appearances and several histrionics he quickly moved to the French side Toulon, immediately rendering the good natured departure from the Ospreys futile. No sooner had he arrived he was involved in a fracas with his team mates, allegedly due to the praise bestowed on his team mate, the consummate professional and absurdly talented Johnny Wilkinson. As such, he soon left Toulonand returned to Wales to play for Cardiff. To his credit he managed to stay longer than the few weeks he gave his two previous clubs, but no sooner had he settled down he was back to his old antics. After a late night game in Scotland, he ignored a curfew and proceeded to spend the night drinking, resulting in very inappropriate behaviour on the flight back to Wales early the next morning. Cardiffimmediately cancelled his contract. After several months without a club, he was signed by London Welsh at the eleventh hour before the start of the pre-season. Some see him as a marquee signing, others as a circus signing; what isn’t in doubt is that this is his last chance at playing top flight rugby and he needs to deliver.
Hopefully at this stage you’re still with me! I bore enough people on rugby forums, so I don’t want to transfer that to here. The purpose of the some what long-winded description was to describe Henson’s situation and transfer that to the work place. As a recruiter I regularly meet professionals who have held a number of roles in a short space of time – very few have had such a colourful career as Henson, although I have heard some stories in my time! One of the first things I have to do when speaking with a professional with such a career is to warn them that there will be a real challenge to overcome the view that they have held too many roles. They are perceived by hiring managers as being a risk and liability, with far safer options available. However, is the safe option always the best?
 |
| The venue of the interviews... |
I know one HR professional who has held 5 permanent roles in 5 years and yet they are one of the most talented people I know. She has been rejected on a number occasions due to how many roles she has held before the organisation has even spoke to her to see her ability. Returning to rugby, Gavin Henson received very few offers after his departure from Cardiff and you do have to question whether this was due to a perceived belief that there were better and safer options available?
Both in this blog and in the group we have held discussions relating to reasons for being rejected for a role, sector experience being the most common topic. In those instances we have found that very talented HR professionals are not being invited to interview purely due to their sector experience. We mostly have come to the conclusion that in the vast majority of occasions this is an unfair and unfounded judgement. Therefore, I would like to put to you the question does the number of roles a person has held really attest to their ability?
P.S. I apologise for bleating on about rugby, however, you should count your blessings that I didn’t discuss how to tender your resignation and relate that to Brian Redpath’s departure from my beloved Gloucester– now that really would have been a (very) long-winded rant!
About the author
Ed is an HR recruitment specialist and social media trainer. He holds over 8 years industry specific experience recruiting mainly for middle and senior HR management positions. He stumbled upon social media a few years ago and has since become passionate about the subject. He now trains job seekers and independent consultants in social media techniques. He is the Group Manager of Human Resources UK and Editor of Discuss HR and occasionally his humour will creep into articles!
*****
Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK. Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 26th July and will be written by Leadership Coach Dorothy Nesbit. Any source
No comments:
Post a Comment