HR- This Isn’t A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a recruiter, Scarlet Riding-Hood Recruiter.  This recruiter was the best, most knowledgeable in all the land of IdealCompany.  Every day she would make call after call to find the fairest candidate to come be a part of IdealCompany.  Then, one magical morning, she found what she thought was the perfect candidate.  So, she hired him. His name was Joe Pinocchio.

It wasn’t long until the evil sorcerer, “Competitor”, cast a spell on the employee.  Joe Pinocchio began doing terrible  things.  He made inappropriate comments to his colleagues.  He stole office supplies.  He even tried to falsify his time sheet.  After several eons of bad behavior, HR Prince Charming rode in on his horse and banished the evil employee away.  All was perfect again in IdealCompany and everyone worked happily ever after.

Wasn’t that a nice story?  Ok, so if you haven’t figured it out, working in HR is not like working in “IdealCompany”.  It doesn’t take long working in human resources before you start to accumulate your share of HR horror stories.  Some are worse than others, but each one helps you grow into a stronger, more well equipped HR leader.  For those of you who are new to the field- hang on to your hats- it’s a wild ride.  For those of you who have been in HR for many years, I’m sure you have many stories to tell.

If you want to hear some real HR horror stories, check out episode 15 of the HR Happy Hour.  It’s certainly not a show for for the kids- more of a PG13 episode, but well worth your time.  Steve Boese and Shauna Moerke led a lively discussion of some of the worst work stories of all time.  There were rude ones, crude ones, and downright scary ones.

If  you don’t want to hear HR Happy Hour, then I hope you work happily ever after.

I’m thinking of writing more HR Fairy Tales.  Hit me in the comments if you have a great HR spin on a childhood story.