NHS Shortlisting Grievance

D.Beddington

Hi all, I have set up an anonymous account (my 'normal' username contains my full name...) and I need some advice on a sensitive subject.

Just to set the scene. I started working at a NHS Foundation Trust around 1 year ago in a position covering maternity [job A]. This maternity cover ended and the organisation kept me on in a number of other roles, all under the same job title.

Recently the person who had returned from maternity cover to job A, is to leave the position and therefore their job has been advertised. I obviously applied, however I have not been shortlisted due to the reasons 'Other applicants are doing this job' and 'we wanted to do the interviews in a day so can't shortlist anyone'.

As you may guess, I am seething. Especially as I have received nothing but positive feedback from line management, managers from other areas of the organisation and from external regulatory bodies. I also meet the essential criteria, much like did when I was originally interviewed for the position a year ago.

Now I have several issues with this:

• The person who is leaving the organisation was a shortlister (only 2 shortlisters), and I question why they were shortlisting if they were leaving the Trust. She is leaving the Trust, 2 days after the interview.
• I am on a fixed term contract with over 2 years NHS service and as such receive the same rights as a permanent employee. As such the organisation has to offer me suitable alternative employment if available, if not then I receive redundancy. My contract is at an end and as such this constitutes suitable alternative employment in my eyes.
• My employment has been exemplary with positive feedback from all parties including the Executive Directors.
• Feedback of 'we don't have enough time to interview all', does not feel like it is good enough reason to not interview someone.
• I also feel that if I could convince the interviewers to give me a chance, the cards are now stacked against me and the decision is already made.

I think the long and short of this post is, is there anything I can do? I haven't sought HR advice as yet as the office is very small and things could slip out so I wondered if anyone on here could advise if I have a case for grievance?

GothicStirling

Do you know if any of the interviewees are on the redeployment list?

D.Beddington

As far as I'm aware none of the candidates are on the redeployment list.

nimbo

when we used to shortlist - we would have several 'piles'

1 - the people who had not met the requirements. (not interviewed - for obvious reasons)

2 - the people who met the 'essentail' requirements (the last time i was involved in shortlisting this was about 100 of the 214 applications)...

3 - it's then hard, but you have to get picky, so it;s the people who meet the essential, and the desirable, and have no spelling mistakes etc (this can take a lot of whittling, as we would usually interview 5 - 8 applicants for one or two jobs)...

The HR agenda for change rules state that of you let people through at a particular 'level' then you have to be able to justify these choices - the process should be fair.

there is a very high chance that there were people who met not only all of the essential, but also all of the desirable, who could be 'at risk' from other trusts, or even who are 'at risk' on a higher pay band...

it is unfortunate that you weren't invited for interview, but HR (at least where I was based) should be very strict, as they 'shortlist' while someone in the office does to ensure the list matches... (we had to fight to be allowed to interview a person who had said they could use SQL - a database language, which was desirable, but they had neglected to say they could use access - the only place this language could be used which was essential, HR only caved after a 2 hour meeting where this was pointed out when my manager said that the job would go back out to advert as this guy sounded great for the position)...

are you on formal notice of redundancy? i ask because when i chose redundancy there was a guy at the end of a 2 year fixed term contract who was entitled to the help in looking for a job, but not to any pay out - he did seek legal advice, but in the end got nowhere... (but to be honest he may have just given up)...

anamenottaken

D.Beddington wrote: »

Hi all, I have set up an anonymous account (my 'normal' username contains my full name...) and I need some advice on a sensitive subject.

Just to set the scene. I started working at a NHS Foundation Trust around 1 year ago in a position covering maternity [job A]. This maternity cover ended and the organisation kept me on in a number of other roles, all under the same job title.

Recently the person who had returned from maternity cover to job A, is to leave the position and therefore their job has been advertised. I obviously applied, however I have not been shortlisted due to the reasons 'Other applicants are doing this job' and 'we wanted to do the interviews in a day so can't shortlist anyone'.

As you may guess, I am seething. Especially as I have received nothing but positive feedback from line management, managers from other areas of the organisation and from external regulatory bodies. I also meet the essential criteria, much like did when I was originally interviewed for the position a year ago.

Now I have several issues with this:

• The person who is leaving the organisation was a shortlister (only 2 shortlisters), and I question why they were shortlisting if they were leaving the Trust. She is leaving the Trust, 2 days after the interview.
• I am on a fixed term contract with over 2 years NHS service and as such receive the same rights as a permanent employee. As such the organisation has to offer me suitable alternative employment if available, if not then I receive redundancy. My contract is at an end and as such this constitutes suitable alternative employment in my eyes.
• My employment has been exemplary with positive feedback from all parties including the Executive Directors.
• Feedback of 'we don't have enough time to interview all', does not feel like it is good enough reason to not interview someone.
• I also feel that if I could convince the interviewers to give me a chance, the cards are now stacked against me and the decision is already made.

I think the long and short of this post is, is there anything I can do? I haven't sought HR advice as yet as the office is very small and things could slip out so I wondered if anyone on here could advise if I have a case for grievance?

They may be keeping interviews to one day but they have shortlisted. (Perhaps they meant to say "can't shortlist everyone".)

Getting the person who is currently doing the job to do shortlisting (and interviewing) is very often a good idea as they know the particular job so well. I see nothing to "question".

It may be that the decision has indeed been made. Did you meet all the "desirable" aspects of the person specification and demonstrate that in your application.