Young and pretty female

niksindamix

My boyfriend recently went for an internal promotion along with another of his colleagues. They both had to give powerpoint presentations as part of their interviews. He's seen her presentation and apparently it was lacking in substance and looked like a school project, plus he's had better appraisals and job performance ratings. She's had no supervisory experience and he has (the job is a team leader position). Educationally, he wins too - he has a master's degree, she has a-levels. Obviously, she got the promotion.

Normally I would just assume she did better in interview, but I've met her and she's stupid and girly! Plus, his company have suspicious HR methods - no compassionate leave, unequal pay for the same job etc. Is there anything he can do to check they weren't just going for the applicant with the shortest skirt? What are his rights, if he has any?

Niks

Poppy9

What benefit would it be to the company to have the person with the shortest skirt?

niksindamix

Well, the bloke on the interview panel is notoriously lechy...

Poppy9

niksindamix wrote: »

Well, the bloke on the interview panel is notoriously lechy...

and?

She's still got a job to do and it's no use if she' stupid.

niksindamix

I know! You know! But she is! So maybe Mr Boss Man doesn't see it that way. Are there any scoring criteria he can ask HR for?

Justicia

I think that the starting point if he wants to pursue this is to get some feedback from the interviewing process as to what may have been the reason for the decision against him...

...without making any claims of discrimination!

Edinburghlass_2

How do you think this is going to help his future prospects with the company if he accuses HR of suspect practices along with sex discrimination and employing the wrong person, in his opinion?

melancholly

how does he know that his appraisals and job performance ratings than her? is that not confidential? it's also difficult to judge how good she will be at the job from a social meeting - i have friends who i think are the dappiest people alive, yet they still have very good careers and are apparently very good at their jobs!!

even if he didn't suspect something dodgy, i think it would be sensible to ask for feedback and what things he can improve for any future opportunities.

Savvy_Sue

He can of course ask for feedback, but what's he hoping to get out of this? they've given the promotion to her, they're hardly likely to turn around and say "Oh dear, we made a mistake, of course we should have promoted you instead."

Maybe your bf doesn't come across as well as he thinks he does in interviews and presentations. Maybe she comes across better in those situations than she does in social ones. We all have our stupid girly moments.

tomstickland

Poppy9 wrote: »

What benefit would it be to the company to have the person with the shortest skirt?

It could provide a major benefit if the person making the decision sees the person doing the job regularly.
Or are you claiming that noone has ever been promoted for reasons like this?

Zazen999

Perhaps he sees the detail and she sees the bigger picture? Perhaps she will be a better people manager? Perhaps she fits what they wanted better than he does? Perhaps she did indeed get the job because of the skirt? There's little that can actually be done about it.

If he feels disgruntled, ask for feedback but don't accuse them of unsavoury practices unless he has proof and is willing for this to go against him in future promotional activities.