8 Responses to “What would you do? Hiring manager won’t take HR’s input”

1. Mario pavisic Says:
   October 16th, 2008 at 5:24 pm

   I went over managers head. Presented my case and we didnt hire that employee. Hiring manager was not happy, but in time and with new good hire he got over it

2. Angel Montenegro Says:
   October 17th, 2008 at 11:12 am

   Has happened many times in this company. These employees went on to be big headaches, WC, FEHA claims etc. The hiring manager is no longer here and we have a greatly improved workforce. The management team let HR do its job, and worked together with hiring managers to get the best available.

3. Mindy Pavilonis Says:
   October 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am

   This is exactly why we, as a management group (5 of us), discuss the pros and cons of each interview and make a decision as a group. No manager in our company has a “final” say as to the hire. Everything is looked at first before an offer is made. It works out great and all managers are on board and appreciate everyone’s input.

4. Elizabeth Says:
   October 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

   This happens frequently, but I typically get the “HR Decision” I’m looking for. Most recently, we had a candidate that was probably capable of doing the job, but would never have fit in with the department, or the company. The previous examples of how this candidate handled problems with outside vendors seemed to get results, but it was a different industry than ours, and the approach would not work and is not feasible in this environment. The Manager was anxious to hire someone and liked the “take-charge” approach of the candidate, which was exactly the opposite of what this position needed – to an extent we needed it, but he was the extreme. I listened to what the manager thought was a good argument, then I presented my case. When he didn’t budge, I told him that my concern was this candidates’ ability to work with our internal customers. I suggested that we both put our own feelings aside and ask some of these key internal customers to do a follow-up interview. The manager thought the candidate would come out looking like a shining star. But, the interview team unanimously “voted” against hiring him. They went around the room one-by-one and tactfully pointed out their concerns. The Manager was surprised, but agreed that their opinions were what mattered most. He gave in and decided to interview a couple candidates that looked less promising than the first candidate on paper, but met the necessary requirements. Within 2 weeks, we had a well qualified, great fit in his department, and he hasn’t looked back since.

   Managers don’t always get the “HR Intuition.” They can be skeptical and assume HR doesn’t know their stuff. When you give them the final say, but illustrate that you do know what their needs are, and are willing to be proven wrong. they are more willing to listen. Since that situation, and several similar when I first started in this role, my Hiring Managers wouldn’t even think about interviewing someone without my input.

5. Tom C Says:
   October 17th, 2008 at 1:02 pm

   In our Corporate structure, we put the ultimate responsibility on the GM. I voice my opinion VERY LOUD! As Angel said, these employees who were hired ended up being problems in one way or another. Short of doing the “I told you so” dance, I chalk it up as experience for the hiring manager and a training example for me.

6. Patti Says:
   October 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm

   It really depends on the manager and the situation. There are situations I have gone over the manager’s head, not a politically correct thing to do but sometimes it is necessary. There are other situations when having a one-on-one with the hiring manager to explain why continuing the interview process is better than just picking the first one that comes along. Other times the hiring manager’s manager will ask how does this person compare to the other candidates? This stumps them and they have to admit they didn’t interview anyone else, that is usually when I am asked to leave the room.

7. R. B. Says:
   October 20th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

   I have to agree with some of the others that it depends on the situation. I always try to have a frank discussion with the hiring manager where we go through the pros and cons. There have been very few times where this hasn’t worked to help the hiring manager think through some things they hadn’t considered. I can recall only once where the hiring manager didn’t give a rip what anyone else thought and went forward with the hire. It was a disaster in fairly short order and one would hope they learned from it. However, they were in executive division management, on a huge ego trip themselves (talk about a bad hire!) and were fairly destructive to the organization all on their own, so it’s doubtful they actually gained anything from the experience. In fact, if I recall, they blamed me for a bad hire. Thankfully, the people who counted knew better.

8. KO Says:
   October 27th, 2008 at 8:16 pm

   I seem to be very lucky, as the relationship between HR (me) & our managers is very cooperative, particularly when it comes to hiring. We always interview multiple candidates for a position, even if someone feels that we’ve already found the perfect fit. This way, we have a variety of people to choose from and we are more confident when we do hire someone. Also, after every interview, the manager and I sit down and discuss how it went. We each interview the candidate separately, the manager focuses on appropriate job skills & I focus more on cultural & personality compatibility. We both have veto power, so if one of us is opposed to the candidate, that is the end of it, with no further discussions. This seems to work well with all of our managers. This policy has been in place since shortly after I started at this company 5 years ago and has worked well the entire time.