Comment by Beijinger

"Soft skills are the most important. Calling a group of people you work with idiots because their role has a low barrier to entry reflects badly on you"

Simple mathematics. There are close to zero entrance requirements to HR or Real Estate. Now compare this to a professor at a decent University. Has to get a HS Diploma, Bachelors degree, PhD, Post Doc, publications. While there may be idiots, it is much harder to become a professor at a decent university if you are an idiot.

Back to HR. I did not say that all people working in HR are idiots. There are brilliant people. But on average, their level is not very flattering. And "soft skills" alone is not enough. Many, if not most, just follow check lists and have no idea what they are talking about.

Recruiter are worse. They add another layer of unnecessary complexity to the process. I avoid them like the plague.