I think IT guys forget about the human aspect of things hi hi.  Just a 
friendly jab there Scott.
Steve did you take any specific education for HR?  I went through an HR 
management Diploma program a couple years ago and have been seeking 
employment in the field ever since.
Lots of employers actually find the idea of a blind HR person intriguing due 
to the somewhat erroneous concept that we are somehow less partial, more 
impartial because we can't see.  Or, that we are more easily able to perform 
difficult HR duties with people because we don't have to look them in the 
eye.
Unfortunately, this intrigue hasn't resulted in a position in the HR field 
yet.  Nor would I want it to for those reasons as my skill set and 
qualifications are solid enough to do the job.
I do some HR related stuff in my current job, but it's more of the putting 
out fires and trying to retain employees and maybe the odd phone screening 
interview variety.
I've tried to involve myself in the compensation and payroll side of the 
business i work for, but it's a pretty rough and rocky transitional period 
between a lone business owner and his wife who have been running the 
business for 20 years, and now realize they have to trust and utilize 
employees to get the daily work done because the business has grown so 
much...but they don't want to do that because things might be done 
differently than before and that might cause them to lose absolute control 
over each aspect of the business.
Basically they have to go from micro managers to macro managers, and the 
owner is a textbook example of an X manager so the whole thing is a bit 
tricky lol.

Regards
Colin
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Steve" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2014 10:17 AM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Not Contacting People was  hard work

> Scott,
>
> As a retired Human Resources pro and Employment and Compensation manager, 
> I
> will just briefly comment...  I never acknowledged receipt of applications
> or résumés (CV is the academic term), because of the administrative costs
> both for mailing, and we had no automated response in our automated resume
> screening software that we got just prior to when I left.  We got a lot 
> more
> apps than we could ever possibly use per opening; and the only time I
> probably did anything as far as acknowledging and specific follow-up was
> when we paid to recruit specific positions that were harder to find
> qualified applicants.  These generally involvedd regional or national
> searches for electric lineworkers, or mechanical and electrical engineers
> with power plant backgrounds.
>
> With automated resume scanning software, it is very critical to massage 
> your
> cover letter and resumé to match the specific job opening from the 
> employer.
> When you set up the software, it is looking for phrases or words that 
> match
> the description.  If we were looking for someone as a programmer-analyst
> that was familiar with SQL or Cobol, it would be set up to scan for that 
> in
> the documentation that potential applicants submitted.
>
> Job searching is a frustrating process, and I admit that the methods used
> nowadays particularly by larger employers seems impersonal.  Even in
> interviewing final candidates for a position, we have to be cognizant of 
> the
> potential pitfalls.  I never told anybody why they weren't selected, just
> generalities.  The reason, of course, is interviewing can be a bit
> subjective.  As much as I could, you use structured interviews and an
> interview panel to try to eliminate some of that, but it is never truly
> absent.
>
> Steve, K8SP
> Lansing, Pure Michigan
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Scott Gillen ZL1CHM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2014 2:30 AM
> Subject: Re: hard work
>
>
> Along the same lines I moved nearly half way around the world from MN to
> New=
> Zealand to get the job I have had for the past 24 years. The thing I find
> m=
> ost annoying in the current market is that employers almost never even
> ackno=
> wledge receipt of applications and CVs.