This. Ignore corporate HR. Speak directly to your potential manager about the specific needs and tasks to be accomplished by you. Present as the solver of those

This. Ignore corporate HR. Speak directly to your potential manager about the specific needs and tasks to be accomplished by you. Present as the solver of those specific needs. That is all they want or need. The rest is pointless bureaucratic growth, just like any fiefdom, and is to be avoided. This manager avoids corporate HR too, because he/she is a problem solver and needs more peers. Be that peer.