Have some HR departments forgotten about Respect & Common Courtesy?

As like many others in 2020, Covid19 has affected the physical health of some and it has indeed affected everyones lives, work and to some extent mental health.

Many businesses worldwide have had to make the sad decision of letting workers go due to the period on uncertainty that Corona continues to present us all. I was one of them :(

I like many others in their 40’s or older find it harder to secure a new position due to age and even more so in the current environment, which has magnified the issue of ageism 10 fold. 10 years ago for every 10 job applications I sent, I secured around a 60% interview offer. Move forward 10 years and that % would be closer to <5%.

The slow demise of respect and courtesy is one thing I have noticed occurring more often and it is a disturbing trend. 10 years ago HR departments were more open to responding positively to candidates who closely matched advertised roles in their own writing more than the current automatic responses that greet so many. 20+ years ago it was a given.

I have a lot of friends and contacts that work in HR and the vast majority of them do follow my beliefs that courtesy & respect are an extremely part of any work place.

I recently applied for a C level role at a well know company and out of respect, I will not mention the name (Even though I really want too and many contacts have said I should) and was offered an interview within 24 hours of applying. Move forward 4 days to the interview date and low and behold 2 hours before I was greeted with a cancellation, simply stating “Our apologies but we need to cancel this meeting for today”. Fair enough people get busy and things come up.

I sent an email back asking if they would like to reschedule and heard nothing. I sent one more message 3 days later and waited, even though I knew that they more than likely did not wish to continue. I decided on a final follow up 10 days later for that word I mentioned in my Headline Courtesy and of course closure. I may be old school but some things that us older people tend to understand is courtesy, be it within the workplace or simply giving up your seat on a bus.

I surprisingly did get an email informing me of what I already expected, yet it still drove me to write this piece. Human Resources play an important role at a company and the way they behave and act towards potential employees is of upmost importance. My personal opinion of HR is that they should show the following traits and skills:

1. Leadership and Navigation
2. Be Ethical
3. Business Acumen
4. Relationship Management
5. Global and Cultural Effectiveness
6. Consultation
7. Communication
8. Common Courtesy towards others both internally and externally
9. Ability to motivate others
10. Courage

I have through 20+ years of working learned all of these skills and mastered a few. 28 years ago I started my working life in the Security industry, when it was rife with thuggish and violent behaviour. I strived and succeeded in changing that mentality at the company I worked for, where I instilled the belief that by listening and responding with clear spoken or written communication and by showing common courtesy or respect to others was far more effective than the violent alternative. It saved me and several others from being injured be it minor, severely or worse still from being killed.

I have had various weapons pulled on people I was protecting or myself ranging from knives, bats, syringes and even a gun and in 99% of those cases I managed to negotiate with them to lower their weapon by showing them respect and empathy through active listening and communication.

I have taken those skills with me through my entire working life and whilst the previous paragraph gives a short look at what I have dealt with, it really only just scratches the surface.

In closing, maybe some of these skills could be passed onto HR persons and others. Yes the company is important, yet people spend time and effort in applying to work for you, be it through a need for receiving a pay check or like me down to the fact that the company I had applied for was an opportunity to work for one of the biggest and most respected companies in the world.

That respect I had, has now lessened some what due to the basic thing of again showing common courtesy and respect to others.

With that said, as I stated above a lot of HR professionals I know do follow to a point old fashioned forms of courtesy and respect but unfortunately the world is changing. Us almost middle aged and older persons are not fodder to be trodden on and discarded like a piece of trash. We have enough trash in the world as it is.

Treat people with respect and courtesy, the world needs people of all ages races, creeds, religions diversity is good for us all.