Agency decides my g/f lives too far away for a job

spiritus

My g/f applied for a job in Preston and lives in Bolton (around 30-40 mins drive on the motorway).

She received a reply on Friday morning from the agency stating

"....unfortunately in this instance your application has not been succesful as the client is not able to support relocation. If you are moving to the Preston area please give me a call".

Relocation ???!!! It's only a short drive away on the motorway ! I assumed this was some sort of misunderstanding and emailed the agency asking them to clarify. We received an "out of office" reply that the person who sent us that email is now out of the office for one week so I decided to ring them instead as in the space of one week the position may be filled.

I spoke to a manager in the agency and the conversation basically went like this..

Agency: Although I don't have the details in front of me it's quite common for people to apply for jobs that are too far away for them to travel to.

Me: This is the first time I've heard of an agency deciding to reject an application because the applicant lives 35 mins away by car

Agency: But sometimes although it might say "Preston area" on the advert it may actually mean "outside of Preston" even Blackpool.

Me: My g/f lives in BOLTON. It's only 35 mins away ! I can't understand why your colleague has effectively shut the door in my g/f's find because she has decided that my g/f lives too far away.

Agency: She didn't "shut the door in her face" she invited her to ring back to discuss it further.

Me: Er... no. She said the application was unsuccesful and to give your agency a call back IF she moves to the Preston area.


Can an agency decide to reject an application on these grounds ?

fengirl_2

They can reject applciatioons on whatever grounds they like as long as it doent break anti discimination law, eg they chose a less qualified man instead of a woman, etc

Anihilator

They can reject it for almost any reason they want.
Probably blacklisted now as someone who needs to go crying to her partner to make phone calls.

As for the agency saying 35 miles. This is entirely there perogative and may have genuine reasons behind it ( being on call for example) or being home based and having to pay travel costs or similar.

Welshwoofs

Just as a matter of interest.....why were you making a call about your girlfriend's job application?

No offence, but if I were recruiting and the boyfriend of an applicant phoned to quiz me over his girlfriend's application I'd reject that person instantly on the basis that the applicant obviously can't do anything for themselves.

Vader123

spiritus wrote: »

My g/f applied for a job in Preston and lives in Bolton (around 30-40 mins drive on the motorway).

She received a reply on Friday morning from the agency stating

"....unfortunately in this instance your application has not been succesful as the client is not able to support relocation. If you are moving to the Preston area please give me a call".

Relocation ???!!! It's only a short drive away on the motorway ! I assumed this was some sort of misunderstanding and emailed the agency asking them to clarify. We received an "out of office" reply that the person who sent us that email is now out of the office for one week so I decided to ring them instead as in the space of one week the position may be filled.

I spoke to a manager in the agency and the conversation basically went like this..

Agency: Although I don't have the details in front of me it's quite common for people to apply for jobs that are too far away for them to travel to.

Me: This is the first time I've heard of an agency deciding to reject an application because the applicant lives 35 mins away by car

Agency: But sometimes although it might say "Preston area" on the advert it may actually mean "outside of Preston" even Blackpool.

Me: My g/f lives in BOLTON. It's only 35 mins away ! I can't understand why your colleague has effectively shut the door in my g/f's find because she has decided that my g/f lives too far away.

Agency: She didn't "shut the door in her face" she invited her to ring back to discuss it further.

Me: Er... no. She said the application was unsuccesful and to give your agency a call back IF she moves to the Preston area.


Can an agency decide to reject an application on these grounds ?

Yes they can.

As stated above, I would be more worred that someones boyfriend was ringing.

In fact I wouild probably not talk to you ans ask the applicant ring back.

Vader

honeypop

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Just as a matter of interest.....why were you making a call about your girlfriend's job application?

No offence, but if I were recruiting and the boyfriend of an applicant phoned to quiz me over his girlfriend's application I'd reject that person instantly on the basis that the applicant obviously can't do anything for themselves.

I agree, unless there was a very legitimate reason for someone calling on her behalf, eg she is deaf, but even then there are other ways for the applicant to deal with it themselves.

But yes, anyone dealing with employment isues on their partners or childs behalf really are not doing them any favours.

DCFC79

To be honest OP your gf should be the 1 making the call and not you if it bothered her at all.

scubaangel

As the agency said it could have been a position in a Preston postcode north of Preston - which would be a considerably longer drive from Bolton, or an area not served comfortably by the rail links - which would make the location unsuitable for your g/f.

Only they know the exact location of the job in question so only they can make a true educated decision regarding how reasonable a commute it would be. Or it was a way to let her down because there were other candidates closer more suited to the role. You don't know, and frankly the agency have absolutely no reason to tell you anything about a decision to turn down a candidates application - in fact if they did discuss it with you they could well be breaching data protection rules as you are not the person who was/is the candidate and the discussion by its nature would involve some personal data (ie her address).

Plus I'm sorry but what person calls a potential employer on their partners behalf? It simply makes the candidate look like someone who would need their hand holding to go to the toilet.

spiritus

Why are you all making this personal ???

I am not going into the reasons why I made the call as it isn't anybody's business. My question was whether an agency can arbitrarily decide whether or not a job is within "commuting distance".

All of you say that an agency can do exactly as they please when it comes to this but taking it a step further - could an employer reject an applicant who lived in the same town but not in the exact postcode where the job was based ? Would it not be unfair/illegal then ?

A 30 minute commute is nothing (it takes me 20 mins to drive from one side of town to the other). I was simply asking for people's advice on this and did not expect smutty comments speculating on my sex life (and people laughing at those remarks)

Thanks !

scubaangel

OK assuming you live in North Bolton or at least near the m'way you've looking at a 40 min drive with no traffic, assuming the m'way like everywhere else is much busier at rush hour you can add up to another 20mins to that just to get to Preston, if the job is another 20/30 mins the other side of Preston in good traffic conditions you can easily double that for the rush hour traffic....is a commute of up to 2 hours reasonable?

wontfallforit

I agree with the OP - who made the phonecall is irrelevant, and has nothing to do with the query posed. Granted, it's a little unusual for an adult woman to get her partner to call up on her behalf, but without knowing the full situation, let's not judge, eh?

This forum seems to love it when there is potential for a "let him/her do it themselves...loser!" comment.

OP, as for your query - it's bad practice, but in no way breaking any kind of law/code (other than, as already stated, there were clear grounds for discrimination based on her age/sex/race/etc).

A few years ago, when I was just a teenager, an agency called me out of the blue, put me forward for dozens of jobs, and then told me I was rejected because I lived too far away. Well, duh, why bother calling me and putting me forward in the first place? I soon ditched the agency, because 1) their contact was unsolicited in the first place (I was too young and naive to understand the ways of agencies), and 2) there was a recurring pattern of them putting me forward for far-flung jobs, for some particular reason.

Perhaps the employer the agency tried to match your girl up with decided that she lived too far away (for whatever reason), and the agency received an ear-bashing from the employer...who in turn passed it on to yourself and your OH.

Personally, I wouldn't bother applying for agency jobs that are more than around 10 miles away, given the issues I've had in the past with them.