r/human_resources

I had an interview earlier this week, and everything was going normally until the guy asked me to give him three reasons why they shouldn't bring me on board. The question threw me off and honestly really annoyed me. In the end, I gave three weak answers that probably ruined my chances anyway.

When it was my turn to ask questions, I asked him: "What would be the biggest reason for me to turn down your company if I received multiple offers?"

He seemed annoyed and said something like: "Well, you're welcome to stay where you are if that's what you prefer." After that, he kept coming back to that point and saying: "I'm surprised you asked that question. Thank you for your time today, it was nice meeting you, but that last question was an odd choice."

Screw these companies. I didn't even want the job that badly in the first place.

For context, I'm already in a senior role and have close to 10 years of experience, so this wasn't some junior position where I was supposed to sit there begging.

I started June 1st. I took a pay cut to come here after leaving a company I’d been with for 4 years due to layoffs, I wanted job security. For some context we have over 415 employees, one HR Director, one Coordinator in a different country and myself looking over the United States hires. Over the last 2.5 months, my role has quietly expanded to cover:

Full-cycle onboarding (about 12-15 new hires a week, tracking their equipment and answering any questions they might have leading up to day 1)

Offer letters, done manually, up to 11+ pages, in Google Docs (not even automated in our ATS)

Background checks, on an inconsistent system, and I’m told to clear new hires to start with items still pending

I-9 compliance (asked to parse a 600 page document for audit and organize the docs, reach out to reach individual on issues on I-9s before my time)

DocuSign routing for those offer letters (3 signatures each)

Referral/bonus tracking

SOP creation

Setting up New Hire Orientation, sometimes with only a few days’ notice before a start date, when we normally run it on a set biweekly schedule

Leading those orientations essentially all by myself after only a 2-week transition from the team that used to own them. Answering their questions during the call, if they have tech issues helping them, etc.

Constant firefighting when other departments (recruiting especially) don’t communicate basic intake details, like whether someone is actually remote or onsite, sometimes found out only after onboarding is already underway, in a system that’s a nightmare to correct after the fact

I have 4+ years of experience doing this exact type of work and have handled this volume before. The difference is that at my last company, the systems actually worked, I could pull an accurate report and trust it. Here, I’m juggling 4-5 spreadsheets at once because nothing talks to each other, and I can’t reliably pull a report at all.

This week, after a large restructuring (100+ employees’ roles/titles changed), I manually updated a separate accountability chart in our EOS platform that doesn’t sync with our HRIS. The chart is different from a typical structure and requires you to remember what assignments the employee is assigned to but some employees don’t actually report to their actual hiring manager in the EOS chart. (Confusing I know) I thought I’d gotten it right. I hadn’t, there wasn’t time to do it properly, and it was never fully explained how it should look. The CEO got upset with my HR director, it trickled down to me, and I owned it honestly on the call. I ended up tearing up afterward from the stress.

This isn’t new. In week two, I asked my manager directly if something was wrong because I sensed tension, and got told not to ask that again, I’d “learn some things.” That same week, I was juggling two different onboarding processes from two recruiters who each did things differently, and got called sloppy on a call in front of the whole team over the mixup. Looking back, that was the first red flag and I didn’t listen to it.

We don’t have real 1:1s, just a weekly team call to go over everyone’s work. Nobody checks in on how anyone’s actually doing. A teammate had a blood pressure scare last week and had to leave for a clinic visit, I genuinely think it was from stress and lack of sleep, and nobody on leadership has addressed it since.

I recently got feedback that I should use AI more to move faster. It has its place, but some of what I do (compliance-sensitive documents, careful policy language) needs a human eye, not a quick prompt.

I’m skipping lunch most days, I’ve started crying after meetings, and I’m constantly told to work harder/faster/smarter when the real problem is broken infrastructure, understaffing, and a leadership style that shuts down honest questions.

Is this normal “startup growing pains,” or is this actually unsustainable? Outside perspective welcome.

I got fired last Wednesday after 4 months of my new manager making it very clear that she wanted me gone. Warning after warning, then a 45-day PIP, then termination.

After 3 warnings, I told the company about my autism because I was trying to explain that my "attitude" didn't mean I was refusing to work or being rude. I also told them that they had dumped a ton of small admin tasks on me, and that expecting everything to come out 100% perfect wasn't realistic.

Their response was the PIP, which made me feel like they were building a paper trail so they could fire me cleanly.

Fine. Cool.

Two days after they let me go, my former manager texted me asking for the password to my work computer. I told her to contact IT. She said IT told her to ask me. Apparently, she needed to set an out-of-office reply on my email. I told her they could simply deactivate my account, and clients would figure it out from there.

About 10 days later, she texted me again saying: "I don't want to be a jerk, but I need your help." And now she's sitting there waiting for me to answer.

The audacity is unreal.

Found out on a Tuesday. She'd already accepted somewhere else, so there was no counter-offer conversation to even have. Two weeks, and she ran basically all of our operations across three sites.

I went looking through our people files that afternoon because I figured surely someone had documented a backup plan for a role like that. Nothing. Not even informal notes. We had succession plans for like four mid-level roles nobody was worried about, and nothing for the two people who'd actually tank the company if they left on short notice.

Spent the first week just trying to figure out who internally could even temporarily hold the seat. Two directors reported to her and neither wanted it - one flat out told me she'd quit before taking it permanently, she just didn't want the politics of managing her former peers.

Posted the role externally out of panic more than strategy. Got maybe 40 applicants in the first ten days, almost all either underqualified or people clearly mass-applying to anything with "VP" in the title. Went through probably 15 resumes that Friday night at home and didn't shortlist a single one.

Ended up bringing in an outside search firm here in UK mostly because I didn't trust myself to evaluate candidates for a role I barely understood the technical side of. That helped with the vetting piece but it didn't fix the actual problem, which is that we still don't have a real plan for the next time this happens. I think I convinced leadership to finally take succession planning seriously but we'll see if that survives the next fire drill.

Anyone gotten their org to build real succession plans before losing someone, not after? What did it take to get buy-in.

I'm trying to stay in decent shape. Most days after work, I go to a trail near the office to run for a bit. When I finish my day, I quickly go into the women's bathroom, change, and head straight out. But on this particular night, about a month ago, someone named "Megan" from another team was struggling badly with a messy Excel macro. I didn't know all the details of the file, but from what I understood, it was the last thing standing between them and an important submission for a big client.

So I had changed clothes and was literally on my way out when Megan called out to me and asked if I could take a quick look before I left. She's still new at the company and honestly a nice girl, so I stopped and started explaining what was broken. That's when her team lead, "Grant," jumped into the conversation and told me it wasn't appropriate for me to do office work dressed like that. I wasn't wearing anything revealing, just running clothes: a sports bra and shorts. I'm not trying to humblebrag, but I'm fit and I have... Let's just say noticeable curves. Grant is the kind of middle manager who doesn't have enough authority to be important, but has just enough to make your afternoon irritating. He also has strong uptight-prude energy.

I told him I hadn't been planning to work; I was leaving, and had only stopped because Megan asked for help. Grant didn't want to hear it. He told me either I had to go back and change into office clothes again, or leave the building immediately. I wasn't going to let Grant control me just because I was helping someone after work hours, so I apologized to Megan and left.

I found out afterward that the client materials had to be sent that same night, and Grant's team missed the deadline. The company lost the account because of it, and it was a seriously painful account. Think upper five figures a year. Grant eventually got fired, partly for losing the account, and partly because he had dumped a large chunk of the work on Megan even though she hadn't been trained on it. And he was the one responsible for it in the first place.

Megan is still with the company, and now we've been matched through an internal mentorship thing. I wish I could tell you I see Grant every night standing miserable and sad next to the running trail, but unfortunately real life doesn't always wrap stories up that perfectly.

Exactly as the title says.

Option A ($85K per year):

37.5-hour work week, Monday to Friday, from 8:30 AM to 4 PM

30% remote work

35 days of paid vacation per year

Option B ($125K per year):

52-hour work week, 5 days on and 5 days off

Rotating 3 day shifts followed by 2 night shifts

90% on-site

12.5-hour shifts (from 7 AM to 7:30 PM or from 7 PM to 7:30 AM)

Average of 52 hours per week calculated over the year

20 days of paid vacation per year

Which one would you choose, and what's your reason?

I'm currently 19 in my 2nd year bba and i recently landed an hr internship at an hr consultancy company they also have an edtech department. I joined as an hr intern for their internal hiring department and I was super happy about it since it was going to be my first ever internship and I would probably learn something from it and gain some corporate experience, also it's like very close to my house so commuting isn't a big problem. Yesterday was my first day and they didn't give me any training they just told me to post about my internship start on linkedin and told me to connect with people on the linkedin. and today basically the work they've assigned me is cold calling 100s of potential candidates for business roles like hr internship, hr executive, sales b2b and b2c and ask them some scripted questions and schedule their interviews if they're good at communicating.That's it. Also they've told me to call from my own personal number which i thought was weird, but again idk what I'm doing. I thought that I was going to learn about company policies, payroll and serious hr shit but this has a tag of an hr intern and has a vibe of a call center. I want to know your opinions please tell me if you're suspicious in any way. Also one more thing is that they have a vacancy every single day of every single year and that too for only hr or sales. How is that possible? 😭 and I've never heard an hr getting targets. I wanted to do an internship desperately because I want to prepare for my mba and I want to gain some experience before it.

stipend- 5k per month

work days- monday to saturday, sunday is off

work time- 9:30am - 6:30pm

Also wanted to add that I've seen many bad reviews of this company's edtech. They sell their course and scam other students to sell their courses basically a pyramid scheme.

We recently went on a trip to Costa Rica. The main goal was to disconnect for a bit. We had our personal phones with us, but we both left our work phones at home. Apparently that's become shocking behavior now?
At some point during the trip, her manager called her on her personal phone. My wife didn't answer and saw the missed call later.
Her manager was calling because something had been added to her calendar with almost no notice while she was on PTO. She didn't have access to her work calendar, and there was no way for her to know that anything had been added. And since she didn't know it existed, no one had been arranged to cover it. So her manager decided to call and reprimand her while we were literally on vacation.
Luckily, she was able to move past it and enjoy the rest of the trip. We got home late on Wednesday, and she worked Thursday. No one said a word about the calendar issue that day or on the next workday.
Then she went to work this week and was given a formal reprimand for failing to arrange coverage for that calendar event.
She's also transferring to another office in about three weeks. The commute will be worse, but she'll be reporting to a different manager, and hopefully to someone who doesn't think PTO means "still responsible for surprise meetings you can't see."
I told her to talk to her manager's boss about it. Neither of us thinks it makes sense for someone to be punished for something that was added while they were out of office, especially when the manager knew she wasn't there. She doesn't want to escalate it because she's trying to leave without burning any bridges.
Honestly, I'm extremely angry. This office is constantly losing staff. My wife works 55 hours a week in a high-pressure role and does everything she can, and her mental health has been deteriorating for months.

​

I want to raise an employment-verification concern for HR professionals.

Some entities I have come across include:

- ORBEX TECHNOLOGIES PRIVATE LIMITED

- BOTEXAI PRIVATE LIMITED

- TECEON SOFTWARE PRIVATE LIMITED

- LEGALEX SERVICES LLP

- IQ-INDIA / related employment claims and many more company list like that.

Important clarification: I am not saying that these registered entities are automatically fake companies. Public records show corporate registrations for several of them. My concern is about whether a particular candidate's claimed employment and actual work experience can be independently verified.

For HR/background-verification teams, I recommend:

1. Conduct a proper technical/face-to-face interview.

2. Verify PF/UAN employment information through authorised channels, wherever applicable.

3. Verify offer letter, relieving letter, payslips and employment dates.

4. Independently verify salary payments where legally permissible and with the candidate's consent.

5. Check whether the candidate can genuinely explain projects, responsibilities, reporting structure and technologies used.

6. If documents conflict with PF/bank/employment information, perform enhanced verification before making a hiring decision.

Please don't ask candidates to share unrestricted bank statements publicly or with unauthorised people. Any financial document should be obtained only where legally appropriate, with consent, and sensitive information redacted.

My intention is to create awareness among HR professionals and protect genuine candidates as well as companies from fraudulent employment claims.

If you have experienced a similar issue, please share your experience with verifiable evidence while removing personal/private information.

#India #HR #Recruitment #BackgroundVerification #ITJobs #EmploymentFraud #Hiring

Beyond experience and qualifications, what qualities or behaviors usually make the biggest difference?

Working closely with HR teams hiring internationally, one budgeting mistake comes up repeatedly: treating the EOR fee as the total additional cost.

In reality, the monthly cost is:

Gross salary + employer-side contributions + EOR fee

For a $5,000/month employee, using Multiplier’s $459 starting fee:

• Germany: $459 + $5,000 + ~$950 in employer costs = ~$6,410/month
• India: $459 + $5,000 + ~$650 in employer costs = ~$6,110/month

Same salary and EOR fee, but around $300/month difference because statutory costs vary by country.

I’ve also seen teams overlook implementation fees, mandatory benefits, payroll deposits, FX costs and termination charges.

My advice: ask for a sample invoice before choosing an EOR. The headline price rarely shows the complete hiring cost.

What’s one EOR cost that caught your HR or finance team by surprise?

I let them know early that same day, before the interview was supposed to happen. The recruiter got angry and told me the employer would probably block me from any future roles, and that he wouldn't work with me again. He kept trying to convince me to attend anyway while I was sick, but honestly, I felt like if I forced myself, it would be worse, so I said no.

There isn't much I can do now except process what happened, but I needed to vent. This is easily one of the worst interviewing experiences I've dealt with.

Any introverts in HR and doing just fine?

I am an introvert myself but can speak when I need to.

Share your experiences!

I've been going back and forth with someone over emails and a few calls for about a month, and when it came time for the actual phone interview, this happened. The posting didn't list any strict specific requirements (nothing like "must have X years of experience doing this exact thing" or anything like that), but the salary range was $13 to $21 an hour. I told her I was looking for $16 an hour, and suddenly she changed and got very weird.

She launched into a long speech about how they want someone who wants to build a future with the company, how these are stable, long-term positions, and how compensation isn't the only important thing because they offer benefits. The benefits were basically paid onboarding, paid federal holidays, and 12 days of PTO. I mean, sure, it's nice that those things exist, but none of them are going to pay my rent or car insurance. Honestly, I sat there silently for a second because I didn't know how to answer without sounding rude. She said she wanted to schedule a second interview, but honestly, I feel like her reaction told me everything I needed to know.

I was a fit for all the general things they were asking for, and then some: a college degree, a clean background, willing to complete their training, able to travel to different sites, comfortable working with children, and I have actual experience being around kids. I was even totally fine with going through the whole training process.

How are people supposed to live as responsible adults on $13 an hour? Especially when the job itself listed a higher range, and I didn't even ask for the top end of it.

I had an interview recently, and everything seemed normal until the guy asked me for three reasons why they should reject me. The question threw me off and, honestly, really annoyed me, so I ended up giving three answers that probably sounded fake and likely ruined my chances right then and there.

After that, when it was my turn to ask questions, I asked him: "What's the biggest reason that might make me not choose this company if I got multiple offers?"

He immediately got annoyed and said something like: "Well, you're welcome to keep working where you are if that's how you feel." After that, he kept coming back to that point and saying: "I can't believe you asked me that question. Thank you for taking the time today, but that last question was very strange."

Screw these companies. I didn't even want the job anyway.

For clarification, I'm currently in a senior role and have a little over 10 years of experience, so this wasn't a junior opening or my first job interview ever.

Hi everyone,
I've officially reached the stage of life where I have 37 tabs open, 4 spreadsheets, and 0 clarity. my_qualifications: 24F, India, 9/9/8, B.Com (DU), M.Com, 1 year of Big 4 experience, and I'll have ~ 3 years of total work experience by the 2027 intake.
I want to build a long-term career in HR / Talent Acquisition / HR Operations / People
Analytics.
I keep going in circles between
Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, and the UK.
Every YouTube video says "all are great", every Reddit thread says "it depends", and my bank account says "please calm down." For someone from a commerce background, which country would you choose for actual job opportunities + ROl, not just pretty campus photos and Linkedin captions?
Also, is MSc HRM generally a safer bet than People Analytics for long-term career growth in HR?
Looking for brutally honest advice from people who have studied or work in HR abroad. I can handle the truth (probably).

Is it sourcing, screening, interviews, salary expectations, or something else?

Gain real-world experience

in HR or Marketing while working from home.

🔹 HR Intern

🔹 Marketing Intern

🔹 HR & Marketing Intern

📌 Details:

💻 Remote | ⏳ 2–6 Months | 🕐 Part/Full-time🎓 Open to students & freshers📚 Hands-on learning + real exposure

✨ Get practical exposure, improve your professional skills, and work on real-time tasks in a startup environment.

📩 Interested? DM me for more details or comment “INTERESTED” below.

#RemoteInternship #HRInternship #MarketingInternship #HRMarketing #WorkFromHome #Internship #Hiring #Freshers #Students