RepositoryRestController: POST with multiple HAL URI

I've OneToMany relation between User & Address and ManyToOne relation with EmploymentType.

@Entity
public class User {
    //..
    private String name;

    @ManyToOne
    private EmploymentType employmentType;

    @OneToMany(mappedBy = "user")
    private Set<Skill> skills = new HashSet<>();
    //..
}

@Entity
public class Skill {
    //..
    @ManyToOne
    private User user;
    //..
}

@Entity
public class EmploymentType {
    //..
    @ManyToOne
    private User user;
    //..
}

@RepositoryRestController
public class CustomUserController {
        private UserRepository userRepository;

        @PostMapping(path = "/users/createUserWithEmploymentType")
    public @ResponseBody String  createUserWithEmploymentType(@RequestBody EntityModel<User> users) {
        System.out.println(users);
        // ....
        return "SUCCESS";
    }

        @PostMapping(path = "/users/createUserWithSkillBatch")
    public @ResponseBody String createUserWithSkill(@RequestBody CollectionModel<EntityModel<User>> users) {
        System.out.println(users);
        // ....
        return "SUCCESS";
    }
}

I need to use custom RepositoryRestController for some additional check before I persist the records.

curl -i -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d '{"name": "Kiran Kyle", "employmentType": "http://localhost:8080/api/v1/employmentTypes/1"}' http://localhost:8080/api/v1/users/createUserWithEmploymentType

This curl works.

curl -i -X POST -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d '[{"name": "Kiran Kyle", "skill": ["http://localhost:8080/api/v1/skills/1", "http://localhost:8080/api/v1/skills/2"]}]' http://localhost:8080/api/v1/users/createUserWithSkillBatch

This does not giving error ...ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver : Resolved [org.springframework.http.converter.HttpMessageNotReadableException: JSON parse error: Cannot deserialize value of type org.springframework.hateoas.CollectionModelfrom Array value (tokenJsonToken.START_ARRAY); nested exception is com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.MismatchedInputException: Cannot deserialize value of type org.springframework.hateoas.CollectionModelfrom Array value (tokenJsonToken.START_ARRAY)<EOL> at [Source: (org.springframework.util.StreamUtils$NonClosingInputStream); line: 1, column: 1]]

It seems when there is an array of HAL URI's, spring does not convert to entity object.

Adding an extra generic type to the function parameter works (Don't know how. I guess List makes resource URI's to be resolved before persisting the entity)

public class Items<T> {
    private List<T> items;
}

public @ResponseBody String createUserWithSkill(@RequestBody CollectionModel<EntityModel<Items<User>>> users)