[bediger]

"HR" went wrong when they changed from "Personnel" to "Human Resources". The very name "resources" makes those people think that everyone is plug-compatible. Proceeding from that assumption, they feel they can winnow out candidates as if people were a commodity, where price and price alone lets you make a decision.

The "Harvard MBA" mindset of the late '80s, early '90s, where "management" made the difference to any business, and businesses only dealt in "product", also helped this sort of mind set along. "HR" has a "product" to churn out, at a minimum cost to the company.