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HR Professional’s HR Horror Stories Part III contest received more than 25 entries from across Ontario, including many hair-raisers that show how crazy this profession can be. We narrowed down the top five and let HRPA members vote for the three best. Here is what you chose:

First prize: It pays to proofread

Years ago while working as a recruiter, I received an interesting resume from a photographer. The man had all the right skills for a professional photographer, but unfortunately the first line of his resume was a little perplexing to me. When I contacted the gentleman, he told me he was quite grateful to receive my call because he had been applying for work for over a year and had sent out hundreds of resumes with no response. He had been looking for work as a professional photographer of school and sport team pictures.

I told him I thought he may have made a huge error on the very first line of his resume that could be deterring prospective employers – instead of stating, “Over 20 years in the photography industry,” his resume read, “Over 20 years in the pornography industry.”

He was shocked he had never caught the error before. His computer program had incorrectly autocorrected his resume and placed the word pornography in his resume. No wonder he wasn’t hearing from any schools or sports teams! The man contacted me only a few weeks later and after having made the correction to his resume, he had landed a position with a photography company. It goes to show how very damaging one word can be.

Proofread! Proofread! Proofread!​

Stacey Bell, CHRL
Walkerton, ON

Second prize: Same name, wrong termination

Early in my career, I worked for a mid-sized manufacturer that had fallen on hard times due to the economy. The senior executive team focused on keeping everyone employed rather than laying off staff. Under their guidance, the focus on research and development escalated while manufacturing was reduced.

Knowing they would need skilled manufacturers once the market rebounded, they eliminated several third-party contracts and had staff assume those duties.

Employees became groundskeepers, cleaners, temporary clerical support – whatever job was available. Despite these efforts, ultimately it became evident that they would have to lay off some staff and they reluctantly decided to lay off 40 individuals. The selection of the individuals took many weeks as the executive team worked to ensure that skilled employees were retained so the business would not be jeopardized when the market recovered.

Four hours after all notifications were given, an employee asked to speak to the HR and manufacturing managers. He explained that he was concerned because he had seen a lot of activity over the morning while he was planting flowers in the garden and wondered where his colleagues had gone.

The reality quickly set in…he had the same name as another employee who had been working on the critical research and development innovations. The supervisor who was tasked with coordinating the layoff meetings did not realize there were two employees with the same name.

The wrong employee had been laid off.

Despite quick communications to the wrongly laid off employee, we learned he had immediately walked directly to our competitor, who promptly offered him a raise and a comparable position that started the next day.

The final insult? HR had not yet “gotten around” to sending the non-compete agreements to those working on the research and development project, nor had they provided any details regarding confidentiality expectations. At that time, there was little the company could do to minimize the impact of this error and it suffered significantly as a result.

Maureen Castella
Ottawa, ON

Third prize: Getting in character

A few years ago, I interviewed an individual for a contract position requiring advanced computer skills.

In addition to possessing other standard software skills, the applicant had a degree in animation. The interview included standard questions, like, “Why are you interested in this position?” The applicant indicated that she was a good fit because she was focused and creative. As an example of her creativity, she provided detailed information of a computer game she had created and explained how she developed the main character based on her own personality and interests.
What followed were more standard interview questions, like, "What are your strengths and weaknesses?"

The applicant answered all of my questions from the perspective of the lead character in her video game, and made reference to the storyline of the video game to elaborate on her answers.

For example, when I asked her to provide examples where her contributions were instrumental in the success of a project, she responded how her character need to get consensus with other characters to develop a strategy to fight a common enemy in the game. Apparently, these characters joining the game were not always well known to her (the main character) and she had to understand how to navigate alliances and motives.

Although she would be able to provide better answers, she attributed much of her skills to lessons learned in developing and playing her game. She shared with me that her fellow gamers and the characters they assumed had varied interests, personalities and work styles just like people in the real world.

I had to gently guide her with leading questions to get her to respond as herself, including telling me about her work on a “real-world” team and how she worked successfully with others on a project.

Only with this type of coaching was she able to relate any of her responses to her previous roles in the real world.​

Joanne Lair
Mississauga, ON

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