Guaranteed Interview Scheme help

GlasweJen

I work for the NHS. A member of staff junior to me asked me to help her with an application for a job that I used to do. She would be going from band 2 to band 3.

This member of staff came to the NHS just after me (I think 18 months ago) and is so over qualified for the role it's unreal. She applied to another hospital and her application is excellent. She met all of the essential criteria and 4/5 of the desirable.

She has a degree in a relevant subject, 8 years experience in the private sector plus 18 months in the NHS.

She has put herself forward for extra training and can do all the jobs a band 3 does with her eyes closed. She's excellent with patients, passionate about eye health and systemic diseases that affect eyes and I (and all the doctors and nurses in our department) though she was guaranteed to get the job. Frankly I'd trust her over most of the eye nurses (band 5 and 6) that I work with and most of the consultants say the same.

Her application didn't get through short listing. I'm astonished! It was a good application, all of the points were met and she disclosed a disability (hearing impairment, not an obstacle for the new job).

I've told her to ask HR for feedback but I also know she's unlikely to get it at such an early stage of the process. Is there anything else I can tell her to do?

She's a member of unison.

Malthusian

They probably thought she was overqualified and would be off to another job in six months. Or she may simply have been unlucky.

To answer your question, has she tried applying for jobs for which she's not overqualified? Plenty more fish in the sea.

*edit* I forgot about your thread title as you didn't mention it in the main body. I gather that in theory she should have been guaranteed an interview due to her disability under the NHS' Guaranteed Interview Policy? When I was Googling this I found a post from you a year ago where you told someone "The person who short listed for the interview wouldn't have seen anything but your qualifications and personal statement. The interview is only guaranteed if you make it through the first sifting of the applications." Couldn't this answer the question?

You said it isn't an obstacle for the new job so perhaps they simply didn't consider it a disability for the purposes of the GIP. You can't have it both ways - if the disability isn't something the employer needs to worry about then it isn't a disadvantage for which you need to be compensated.

There is certainly no point in mounting some kind of appeal as they've already decided that for whatever reason they don't want to give her the job, and even if they were forced into giving her an interview they'd just be wasting her time.

GlasweJen

The personal statement and qualifications list definitely show that she meets the criteria for the job so she should have got an interview through GIS. NHS Scotlands policy is that any declared disability allows you to access GIS so even though she has all the stuff to support her disability just by declaring it she should have been on the GIS list (she has powerful hearing aids and lip reads).

It's talk of the staff room this morning, she's well over qualified for band 2, possibly a bit over qualified for band 3 but can't progress to band 4 in one jump because the band 4 job description wants someone with 2 years experience at band 3 or equivalent. How is she supposed to progress if no one will even interview her due to being over qualified?

Meanwhile her union keep putting up posters about healthcare support workers being entitled to training and education to help them progress and emailing everyone with "senior" in their job title reminding us of our obligations to progress our bands 1-3 and not prioritise nurses education over their support workers.

Bogalot

The Guaranteed Interview Scheme applies irrespective of whether your disability affects your ability to do the job in question, so if she met the minimum criteria she should have been given an interview. Perhaps HR messed up and didn't pick this up when the markings were given to them to allocate interviews?

I do agree with Malthusian re there being no point in interviewing her if they've no intention of giving her the job (as long as that reason is not disability related!). I had a similar issue some years ago, and after a few conversations it became clear they just didn't think I'd stick around (I would have!). So I'd ask the question, but weigh up whether it's worth my time in pushing the issue.

GlasweJen

I've told her to ask for feedback and see where she could have improved her application just for future applications though we all feel sorry for her as these band 3 positions are rare in our department so we all know unless something drastic happens she won't be applying any time soon.

I've also said she should maybe highlight what's happened to Unison, especially if it is a "overqualified" or similar reason for not being interviewed. Not to get them involved with her personal application but to show them the challenges faced by band 2s who are trying to progress up their bands and are struggling. Her KSF scores are above her band and some even above the band 3 requirements so from an NHS point of view she is ready for promotion and has all the necessary skills and qualifications so what more do they want? It seems ridiculous when the job she's applying for is £17.5kpa or something like that, it's not like she's applied to run the department.

Malthusian

GlasweJen wrote: »

she's well over qualified for band 2, possibly a bit over qualified for band 3 but can't progress to band 4 in one jump because the band 4 job description wants someone with 2 years experience at band 3 or equivalent.

You said she had eight years in the private sector. Could she say her experience there was equivalent to band 3? The fact that she can do the job of a band 3 with her eyes closed suggests it was.

Could she move back into the private sector?

FBaby

You said she met MOST of the desirable criteria. It very well could be that they had enough applicants who met them all to not short list those who didn't.

Sncjw

Did she actually tick the box to be interviewed under the scheme. You have to ticktbe box to do so and declare the disability

Sncjw

Under the scheme you have to meet all the essential criteria. Desirable is criteria that would be helpful but not essential.

TELLIT01

First step is to request feedback. It may be that failure to meet one of the criteria prevented her being interviewed. Applications often go through a sifting process, sometimes done purely on a box ticking basis, which could have resulted in being removed.

GlasweJen

Malthusian wrote: »

You said she had eight years in the private sector. Could she say her experience there was equivalent to band 3? The fact that she can do the job of a band 3 with her eyes closed suggests it was.

Could she move back into the private sector?

I would say so but the department seems to think the private sector training isn't as rigourous as the NHS training so "or equivalent" is never really used. In my experience the band 2s who come from the private sector are much more switched on than the ones the NHS recruits from other departments but it's internal politics that no external candidate would ever be able to cut through.

She could return to the private sector but would have no pension, statutory leave only and less pay. Optics pay is rubbish unless you're an optom or an ophthalmologist.