Not necessarily; that's their job. Just going by my encounters with your typical HR puke most of them are lucky to be working at all and in a sane world where we didn't need 24/7 "ass covering and legal techinicalities" they wouldn't be.
I see nyk's point and I applaud him for standing up for what he believes in; I guess I'm the only one.
As much as they are interviewing you for a position, you should be interviewing them. Good for him for having standards and not putting up with it. Maybe it will limit his choices but he can sleep better at night knowing he didn't settle for something. I know a guy who was interviewed for the latest opening. He got an invite to interview and a date. He doesn't live in Dallas and wasn't offered positive space to get there and home, a hotel room for the night, nothing. He spent three hours there to "interview" (time taking a test, time for it to be graded, and a group "interview" with 20 or so other folks) and he spoke for all of 5 minutes. Maybe. All of that screams, "As a company, we don't give a hoot about YOU. You're a number, and a body to fill a seat."
You should have your own reasons for wanting to go work for a certain company but a company should also present the candidates reasons they should want to work there. Being "the biggest airline in the world" only gets you so far.
Pilots will tell you that more people having standards would mean an increase in pay starting out. $16-$20k a year? What an insult; I don't get out of bed for that. But people continue to flock to the right seats of those RJs. Have some standards for yourself. No, in today's world we're all just programmed to accept whatever is jammed down our throats and go along with it like good lemmings. Standing up for yourself or for something you believe in is frowned upon while mediocrity and not "rocking the boat" is applauded.
Rant over, let's get this thread back on topic.