It varies. There is a reason there is some level dislike for HR cohorts. Keyword bingo is one of those things.
Minor anecdote incoming. I applied to a company A. It was a fit. I think I used the right keywords. Zero response. I talked with my buddy there. She talked with hiring manager. I got hired by company A. I later found out HR was unhappy, because it undermined their 'process' - such as it is.
There just has to be a better way to do this when compared to things as they are now.
Going direct to a hiring manager is always the best route to the job.
Any standardized process will lack fidelity and excellence in specific cases. Or maybe even in all cases, when the company has made the trade off for cost or speed over quality.
But that’s what big company life is like, and that’s why they have standardized processes. Because even with the errors, in aggregate, it works out better for the business.
Do you really care that you made HR unhappy though? Seems like you shouldn't, the company/team management is probably happy to pursue references over the funnel of random candidates, and the unhappy HR staffer is better off learning from the experience.
Not really is the truthful answer. The job in question had my best boss so far, so upsetting HR drone was a necessary evil in retrospect. I just dislike making people upset if it can be avoided. In my line of work, I do not get to make a ton of friends along the way. And who knows where that drone might end up in 10 years.
Do you really care that you made HR unhappy though?
Fundamentally it does kind of suck to have to put up people in your environment who are "unhappy" with you, or the fact that you snuck in there -- not because you don't belong there, but because of their own basic ignorance as to how things actually work.
Not that you can't grit your teeth and live with it - it's a job after all, and that's what you get paid for. But still, it does kind of suck.
Minor anecdote incoming. I applied to a company A. It was a fit. I think I used the right keywords. Zero response. I talked with my buddy there. She talked with hiring manager. I got hired by company A. I later found out HR was unhappy, because it undermined their 'process' - such as it is.
There just has to be a better way to do this when compared to things as they are now.