Didn't get old job back

fairy_gurl

Hi

I was wondering if you could give me some advice, a friend left their jobs because of relocation of the office about 3 years ago. Since then his they have moved back to their old location and his old job was readvertised. He applied and didn't get an interview and they have a policy of not saying why.

He is in his 60's now. Can anything be done?

Thanks

System

i doubt theres anything they can do ,a previous emloyer is under no obligation to re employ staff once they have left.

Emmzi

Is the job identical or does it need new skills? (How would he know?)

I sense you are thinking of age dsicrimination here.

He may just not be the best candidate for the job, and I would suspect they have paperwork to demonstrate this if it came down to it. So he could move on or he could start a dubious claim with a low chance of success and be angry for many months until it gets heard....

Me, I'd leave it. Depends how upset he is.

McKneff

He's just like every other applicant I'm afraid.

Pays your money and takes your chance.

lucylucky

He can ask for feedback, just on the off-chance, but perhaps there were more suitable applicants?

crackerberry

If he suspects it was because of his age and can be bothered to do so he could send them an age discrimination questionnaire.

Link to guidance below-

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JLf7owqa0-kJ:www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/age_questionnaire_guidance.doc+age+discrimination+questionnaire&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

fairy_gurl

Hi thanks for the feedback. It's exactly the same job, same skills etc as old job application and has been doin a very similar job at another branch.

He asked for feedback and they said policy was not to give feedback.

He also originally phoned to check if they had received his application and they said they had only had a couple of applications (this was the last day for applications to be received) and then when he was told they wouldn't be interviewing him, when he questioned why and said could age be a reason they said they had a massive amount of applications.

He is very upset about it but is it really worth doing anymore with it? Thanks

Fluffi

There is no obligation to give feedback and maybe there were lots of applications and person who originally said there were few applications didn't know how many there had actually been.

At the end of the day there is a reason (age, relationships with current staff at the branch or otherwise) why they didn't want your friend back at the old branch. The reasons may be completely unfair but even if your friend could force them to hire him - people wouldn't be happy and would make your friend's working day a misery.

Personally I wouldn't want to work somewhere that I obviously wasn't wanted if I had a choice.

SueC_2

Some places just have a policy of not re-hiring ex-employees.

inmypocketnottheirs

fairy_gurl wrote: »

Can anything be done?

Really sorry to be so harsh, but the best thing is to move on and apply for other jobs.

Is your friend working at the moment?

crackerberry

There's a law against age discrimination for a reason. Personally this is one occasion whereby I'd say put that questionnaire in. The job's gone and I agree, they don't want him so move on in respect to finding someone who does...however... in the meantime he has nothing to lose by sending that questionnaire.