3 ms·

It's somewhat interesting that grammar/typos etc. matter this much. It's a little hard for me to believe because I'd think "projects, projects, projects, get st

by kriro 13y ago

It's somewhat interesting that grammar/typos etc. matter this much. It's a little hard for me to believe because I'd think "projects, projects, projects, get stuff done" trumps all. Did you adjust for native speakers vs. non-native speakers in any way? Also maybe I'm naive but why can't engineers do the HR even at big companies? Imo for knowledge workers you really can't afford to outsource HR to people that have no domain expertise.

RougeFemme 13y ago
At the big companies, HR doesn't handle the complete hiring process, but a good HR department can do effective pre-screening for the hiring manager. I like the fact that the OP points out that if you provide sufficient criteria to HR, they can effectively screen resumes. (The problem that I've seen - which can be avoided - is that either no criteria are given to HR or the criteria are too tight.) Why should an engineer spend time pre-screening for typos? And, if the hiring manager is adamant that the candidates must be proficient in language/methodology X, why should an engineer waste time looking at resumes that don't even mention language/methodology X? (Maybe the hiring manager shouldn't be adamant about lanauge/methodology. Maybe judgement should be used. So that's a criterion that should not be passed on HR, in that case. If it is, that's the fault of the hiring manager, not HR.) Also, a good HR department can keep you from getting into legal trouble with illegal questions/behavior.
leeny 13y ago
We didn't adjust for native vs. non-native speakers. Despite that, we did end up hiring several people from outside the U.S. In general, I think native and non-native speakers should be held to the same communication bar. No one is demanding perfection, but it's important to be able to get ideas across without noise. Moreover, and I think some commenters mentioned this below, a resume isn't written on the fly. Ideally, someone should be self-aware enough to know that grammar/spelling isn't their strong suit, whether they're a native speaker or not, and that should inform whether they opt to have it proofread.

by kriro 13y ago

RougeFemme 13y ago

At the big companies, HR doesn't handle the complete hiring process, but a good HR department can do effective pre-screening for the hiring manager. I like the fact that the OP points out that if you provide sufficient criteria to HR, they can effectively screen resumes. (The problem that I've seen - which can be avoided - is that either no criteria are given to HR or the criteria are too tight.) Why should an engineer spend time pre-screening for typos? And, if the hiring manager is adamant that the candidates must be proficient in language/methodology X, why should an engineer waste time looking at resumes that don't even mention language/methodology X? (Maybe the hiring manager shouldn't be adamant about lanauge/methodology. Maybe judgement should be used. So that's a criterion that should not be passed on HR, in that case. If it is, that's the fault of the hiring manager, not HR.) Also, a good HR department can keep you from getting into legal trouble with illegal questions/behavior.

leeny 13y ago

We didn't adjust for native vs. non-native speakers. Despite that, we did end up hiring several people from outside the U.S. In general, I think native and non-native speakers should be held to the same communication bar. No one is demanding perfection, but it's important to be able to get ideas across without noise. Moreover, and I think some commenters mentioned this below, a resume isn't written on the fly. Ideally, someone should be self-aware enough to know that grammar/spelling isn't their strong suit, whether they're a native speaker or not, and that should inform whether they opt to have it proofread.