Evil HR Lady

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a freelancer in HR? HR Lancers asked me to describe my experience as an independent HR pro, and I said sure! I love sharing information.

So here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly about life as a freelancer in the HR sphere. 

The Good

Freedom, variety, and independence are all grand. I can work around my schedule. If someone offers me an intensely dull project, I can evaluate whether I need the money badly enough to say yes. If the lack of paycheck won’t break me, I can say no. That is amazing.

I have met amazing people. Because most of what I do is write, I’ve made such fun connections in the world of journalism. Because I go to conferences and every vendor is fighting for a chance to talk to the HR writer, I’ve had amazing conversations that most people don’t get to have. 

I’ve coached people through difficult situations and have the chance to see them blossom. It’s incredible and rewarding from the hard work we do together.

Part of my job entails reading Facebook (fun!) and reading Twitter (horrifying!). I try to stay out of politics online, but somehow it all ends up in my feed.

When an article goes viral, it’s super exciting. I wish I knew the key to make that happen. Sometimes as I hit publish, I say, “this article will be awesome!” and only my mother reads it. Sometimes I say, “well, this is mediocre but gotta hit publish!” and it goes viral. It’s a mystery to me.

My regular clients are fantastic. Because I have freedom, I can always end a contract if I don’t like working with someone. So, that means I love all the people I work with regularly. 

The Bad

I don’t particularly appreciate marketing myself, and freelance work involves a ton of self-marketing. While I have repeat clients, I also do a bunch of one-offs. The one-offs can be fun because often the work is different, but once it’s done, it’s done, and I have to find another client.

Being independent and working from home means there’s no one to take the tedious tasks or share the load for the complicated stuff. I do miss teamwork (although I do team-based projects from time to time.)

The Ugly

The ugliest part of freelancing is the money. Not the total income–that’s reasonable. (Although if anyone wants to send me more money, I will happily take it!) No, it’s dealing with invoicing and reminding people to pay their bills.

For instance, in December, a whole bunch of clients didn’t pay, and it was a bit stressful. They’ll all pay up in January, but December is an especially bad time to have to say “nope, can’t afford that.”

I also am my own IT department, and, frankly, I should put myself on a PIP for my skills there. (I do have an expert who builds my website and fixes any significant problems. She’s amazing.)

Overall, though, I love freelancing. The good far outweighs the bad and the ugly. I adore being Evil HR Lady. And if you want to hire me, send me an email at EvilHRLady@gmail.com. Or if you want to send me a question, send it there as well. 

This post was sponsored by HR Lancers–a new site that allows you to find an HR expert for your project work.

{ 3 comments }

If you call me and get my voicemail, it tells you the fastest way to reach me is to hang up and text.

I’m not alone in my hatred of phone calls–messaging is the number one usage of smartphones. People love messaging apps of all sorts and hate phone calls. So, it makes sense that texting should start to take over recruiting.

It’s not the solution to hiring Millennials and Gen Z (as if there is any one-size-fit-all solution to any generation), but it does have a certain appeal to those who grew up with a phone in their hands and yet never talk on one.

Well, you say, we don’t need to text– that’s what email is for. And that is also true–but email isn’t the preferred communication method of today. Some businesses have even gotten rid of email in favor of other tools. For a good reason–text responses come 60 times faster than email responses.

But, texting can also be informal, and the language you may use with your friends is probably not the language you want to use in business communications with someone you’re trying to impress. (Remember, recruiters need to impress candidates just as much as candidates need to impress recruiters.) So, here are some guidelines for using texting for recruiting.

Write like a grownup

By grownup, I don’t mean someone who is 18. I mean, like your high school English teacher. Or your mother, if she were a high school English teacher. Sentences start with a capital letter and end with a period, a question mark, or (very rarely) an exclamation point. When referring to oneself, it is a capital I. Words do not have letters in them. Every word gets a vowel. Am I making myself clear?

Texting may be convenient, but it shouldn’t be sloppy. You want clear communication, and you’re often speaking to people from different backgrounds. Use standard English, even if it comes via text.

Allow people time to respond

Just because texting is fast doesn’t mean you should expect an instant answer. People are busy, or they may want to think about their answers. A read message doesn’t mean a response needs to come in the next 30 seconds. Unless you made an appointment for texting time, allow 24 hours to respond–especially if it’s an in-depth question.

Give people options

While my teenagers can use their thumbs faster than I can type (or so it seems), a lot of people are better with a keyboard. Use a texting function that can also be used on a computer if you’re going to do more than schedule meetings via text. If someone says they prefer email or “can we just jump on a call,” consider doing that. Remember, recruiting is a two-way street, and sometimes the old fashioned ways are better and more efficient.

This is not the place for an in-depth interview

I’m a writer and would love to do a whole job interview in written form. I can think and edit before I hit send. (But I’ll still miss the autocorrect–my phone believes I want to say “gave” instead of “have” every time.) Not everyone is like me. (Thankfully!) 

Texting can be a part of your recruiting process, but it shouldn’t be your entire process. It’s just like the phone screen, the background check, or the formal interview–a piece of the process. It can be a handy piece but don’t rely on it entirely.

This post is sponsored by Emissary, an app that helps with text-based recruiting.

{ 5 comments }