Do The Work

I first met Shawn Knodel when we began working together as part of my current company.  Shawn and I made a great team. I’m loud and full of big ideas, he’s quiet, analytical, and the king of follow up and research. Shawn truly cares about the people he supports. Shawn knew the name of every employee’s spouse and child. He would hunt down insurance issues and payroll problems because he wanted to help, not just because it was his job.

Shawn is looking for an HR Management or Senior Generalist role in the Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park and Georgetown areas.

Shawn, tell us a little bit about what you’re most proud of so far in your career?

As past co-workers would attest, although not loquacious, I like to bring a sense of humor and compassion to the department.  Often, the HR community is saddled with the stigma of being the “company police.” I do my best to break down walls with employees. As Franny kindly noted above, I tend to know the ins and outs of our employees and have a vested interest in their well being (including their families). The more trust that you gain with employees, the more they are willing to work  with the company!

I think the accomplishment that is most satisfying is recruiting a new engineer out of college, getting the engineer excited for the new job & new company, trained and situated, and finally watching him or her prosper and excel within the company. I have acted as “a big brother” to these engineers all along the way.  I believe this informal mentorship provided them with a solid platform for being a success.

Tell us a little about what you want to do next.

I’d like to star in a History Channel special with Will Farrell called, “Fig Leaf: The Full Coverage.”  But, seeing as that will likely not come to fruition this month, I guess I’ll have to provide another response!

I am not the communication leader for a whole company.  However, I am very good at absorbing the company culture and promoting it outward to the employees AND to would-be candidates that we are looking to hire.  I am looking for a position that will allow me to be some sort of HR spokesperson or cultural facilitator in some way.

And what do you know you don’t want to do, either because you wouldn’t be good at it or because you just flat hate doing it?

The one thing I wouldn’t want to do is be a full-time recruiter.  HR involves recruiting and I have successfully done it in the past, but it was done with a mix of other duties.  I just don’t have the drive to do recruiting and nothing else.

Now that you’ve spent a little time on the other side of the hiring desk, what will you do different next time you have a chance to design or fix a hiring workflow?

I’ve  noticed two things that I believe need to be addressed at many companies.  First, don’t make the job application process too complex or long.  The best companies provide a quick and complete portal for applying for a job.  Others – Nine web pages for an application?  Don’t!  Having to manually populate resume information AND upload your resume?  Double-duty!  No ability to load a cover letter?  Dumb!

Second, an HR department should know the rules of interviewing.  If a candidate has been spoken with, either via the phone or in person, that candidate deserves to be notified if he/she was not chosen as the final person for the job.  Forgetting this crucial step will provide a catalyst for negative feedback from candidates.  This is all too important given the immediacy of outlets like Twitter and Facebook.

There’s a whole conversation in the online HR community about whether or not HR is dead. What are your thoughts about the future of HR?

I wouldn’t pronounce HR dead.  Yes, there are services and IT bundles that eliminate things that HR traditionally does. ERPs promise to deliver it all.  However, at the heart of all this, there is still a need for people – people to provide service to the internal clients of the company.   I think that HR is being forced to re-make itself.  No longer will there just be HR pros doing just HR things.  Instead, I think we will find that the economy will force (and has forced ) HR people to expand their skill sets to include functions from other jobs.  I see HR professionals getting more intertwined with accounting, IT and marketing. Think of it as a new type of “generalist”, a generalist that provides more bottom-line skills to the company.

Any closing thoughts?
What can I provide to a future HR department?  I believe trustworthyness, honesty and the ability to keep my poise and professionalism under pressure. I see myself as the ultimate “journeyman”, a go-to team player that can help make the others around me better!