Let’s just say I’ve worked with, and worked with other people who have worked with, some very, very incompetent managers who keep their positions through seniority and connections. **msmith537 **also had some very accurate observations. Which is not to say I haven’t also worked with or been aware of some truly spectacular managers–just that they’re not 100% of the population.
That said, the efficacy of consultants is also, in truth, not necessarily dependent on how incompetent the people hiring them are. Consultants, ideally, have (a) more experience in a particular arena; (b) access to more information on the subject, including their own research; and (c) access to more tools for dealing with whatever it is, including ones they’ve developed.
*You *have no clue what I do for a living. And I can confidently say that I have personal experience that I am right. Not right for every organization, but I never claimed to be.
Yeah, HR often has some damn silly rules. I read on one MB one HR head say that they expected any paper resume be on the “good stuff”, and copier paper resumes were tossed. Another poster, claiming also to be head of a HR dept (and both seemed to be) claimed that having your resume on good bond paper was showing a preference for style over substance, and any such resume would be shitcanned on the spot. The same was said about cover letters.
So, honestly- HR is full of tinplated dictators who know nothing about business and make up petty rules to lord it over the actual professionals.