What do you think of this?

HurdyGurdy

Firstly, I apologise for the length of this post!

I worked for a local council until last month. Cutting a very long story short, despite (verbally) being promised a permanent contract with them, I was only ever given temporary contracts. My final temporary contract ended at the end of November, three days before I had completed one year's service with them.

At the beginning of November I applied for another position with the council. I received a standard "thank you for your application. All applicants will be contacted within 28 days" email from them.

I worked SO hard on that application. I literally spent about seven hours on it, going into enormous detail and citing examples and case histories etc. I had two other people go over what I'd written on it and comment and offer opinions etc. The reason I took such care and spent so much time on it was that I had been turned down for an interview for another position and when I asked for feedback, I was told that I hadn't put enough information or examples in it. So I really went to town on this one.

I met all of their essential requirements, and almost all of their desirable. I was a bit "light" on one of the desirables, but I still had some of the experience they'd asked for.

I had heard nothing other than the standard acknowledgement email, so I emailed yesterday:-

"I applied for the above vacancy on 9th November 2009, which was the closing date for applications.

I received a brief acknowlegement email, which said I would be contacted within (I think) four weeks (I have unfortunately deleted the email).

More than four weeks have passed, and I have to say I am rather disappointed not to have heard anything further regarding my application. I am concerned that I may have been invited for an interview, but have not received the invitation letter or email.

As I spent several hours, and put a lot of effort into completing the application form, I would appreciate it if you could offer me some feedback on my application. "

I received this email this morning

"According to our system the manager is still shortlisting for that job. We are currently in the process of trying to move things along for that position but until the manager has finished shortlisting there is nothing that can be done.

Once the manager has finished shortlisting everyone is contacted regards to whether or not they got an interview. If you would like to ring the manager for yourself to see how they are getting on then please do. The manager is xxxxxxx, number xxxxxxxxxx.

Many Thanks"

I felt quite encouraged by this, as I told them I considered I have a disability and their policy is that any disabled applicants who met the essential criteria would be guaranteed an interview.

However, later this morning, I received the following email:

"Since replying to your first email I had a look at the position and spoke to a member of the panel who would of been conducting shortlisting, from doing this I found out that someone has already been appointed for this position through our redeployment scheme. The council has an obligation to redeploy members of staff who find them selves, for what ever reason, at risk of redundancy. These candidates are normally identified prior to posts being advertised, however in this case the redeployment candidate was identified much later in the process. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused but I hope that you will understand that we have a duty to our current employees."

They have recently implemented a fancy online recruitment process which prompts them to send out letters of rejection or offers of interviews etc. Given that I've had nothing since the initial email from them, I personally think they've screwed up somewhere along the line, and have invented this "redeployment" candidiate to cover their backsides.

Am I just being bitter and twisted, or do you think I could be right?

There is a LOT more I could say, but I suspect this post is more than long enough already! I'm not taking up the cudgels and going to start making a fuss, but I would be interested in other peoples' interpretations.

Horace

All employers are obliged to redeploy staff where there are vacancies and the redeployment process takes time. Councils tend to move quite slowly anyway much like the civil service.

Like you I am disabled but I learnt long ago that you are only guaranteed an interview if you meet the criteria of the job, it is unfortunate that the job has been given to a redeployee but that's life and I wouldnt read anything into that.

Good luck with your continued job search.

Anihilator

Covering their !!!!!! for what?

From you playing the disability card?

You didnt get the job. You havent been discriminated against. Move on and stop using your disability to get preferential treatment.

McKneff

The letter is quite specific to you and does apologise for any inconvenience.
I think you should take it as it is read. I can understand your disappointment
but I bet most of the other applicants didnt get the full explanation that you got so i would be thankful for that and move on. Of course they are going to look after their present employees. Good luck in your efforts to find employment.

Emmzi

unfortunate they advertised externally before internal process exhausted, but nothing wrong in the process legally.

easilydistracted

I work for a council and a whilst in my previous job was really keen to move on. I applied for another post as did some collegues in other teams. We didn't hear anything for ages and were then advised that a similar thing had happened. I actually found out the post had gone to someone else I knew and understood why, she had an awful time in her previous post and was medically redeployed. I also had a friend with serious ongoing health issues who was medically re-deployed and she was proritised for the post as long as she scored enough to be appointable. My situation was very frustrating at the time but I used the application I'd slaved over to get my current post. Not much comfort I know but councils have to be very careful to follow proper procedures and it sounds like a genuine explanation.

McKneff

Lets face it, if you were working for them already under threat of redundancy
wouldnt you be hopping mad if a job that you could do was given to someone from outside the company, I know i would.

Just accept it with good grace.

HurdyGurdy

Thank you all for taking the time to firstly read through a mammoth post, and secondly, replying. I do think, Anihalator, you were a bit harsh. I certainly have never "played the disability card" nor used my disability "to get preferential treatment". The application form ASKS if you have a disability, and I answered honestly. I only mentioned it in my OP because of the council's policy of automatically offering interviews to candidates with disabilities who met the criteria for the job. In the job I was doing for the council, only my immediate line manager was aware of it - none of my colleagues knew about it. I don't make a song and dance about it.

I think my main gripe was that they'd not bothered to let me know my application had been unsuccessful, despite having this fancy new system that prompts HR to send out letters/emails at pertinent points during the selection process.

This was what I really wanted opinions on - whether, as I suspect, they'd just overlooked this point of the process and had then made up a redeployment candidate as they knew, as well as I do, that any redeployment candidate would take priority over any other, and this covered their mess in not informing me (nor perhaps all other candidates) of the outcome of the application.

And it was as much the exasperation at spending SO much time and effort on the application, which turned out to be a waste of time, which upset me. And, if I'm being honest, anger at HR's inefficiency when my temporary contracts with the council (as I had initally been employed by them via an agency) were first introduced. It took them four months to actually get the contract issued. Had they done it when my manager first asked them to, I would have been employed for over a year by the time my job was redundant, and I too would have been eligible to apply for the position under the redeployment scheme.

McKneff - I *was* working for them at the time, and my job *was* being made redundant.

However, I thank you all again for giving me your thoughts. I did ask if I was just being bitter and twisted, and it sounds as though maybe I am.

Emmzi

you probably have some justifiABLE anger so dont be hard on yourself. just don't let it fester cos it won't help!

jdx

Emmzi wrote: »

just don't let it fester cos it won't help!

I agree. It won't do any good.

tsimehC

You sound dejected like I did when I was told I wasn't good enough for an admin position in a GP surgery after spending a good three hours on the tedious application form. Don't let it get you down too much as there is always another vacancy you can apply for. Good luck.