Guaranteed Interview Scheme help

GlasweJen

FBaby wrote: »

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.

I can't think of anyone who would have ticked all of the boxes unless they were already working at band 3 and looking to go full time or move site. It's a close knit team even across sites and none of our band 3s have applied so unless there's been a huge amount of band 3s from our neighbouring health board apply I don't think that has happened.

As she meets all of the essentials she should have been offered an interview under GIS anyway. Our health board has been known to offer interviews under GIS to people who make 90% of the essential criteria even for popular roles in case the applicant has missed something relevant in the personal statement.

Sncjw wrote: »

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

Yes, she ticked the box for the GIS, ticked the sensory impaired box and wrote that she's Deaf and used hearing aids and lip reading.

TELLIT01 wrote: »

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.

I have an inkling that the role will go to one of the band 2s currently working at the other hospital and that this whole exercise is a show to be honest. I know it happens in other departments and across the NHS. I certainly came up against it when I was applying on more than one occasion and even had HR tell me that I was the first candidate coming out of interview but the role stayed internal.

I'm trying to encourage her to move on but she's obviously taken this as a personal rejection and thinks she shouldn't have revealed her disability and that she's not doing as well in her current role as she thought she was.

FBaby

If she ticks the GIS box, that's different. Of course they could disagree that she met the criteria for GIS, but in this instance, she should be entitled to an explanation.

She needs to investigate with HR, but alternatively, she might want to raise a complaint as they would be breaching their policy and that could have serious consequences for them.

GlasweJen

I've told her to wait and see what feedback she receives in case we have all missed something obvious. I think she maybe should complain if there has been a protocol breach but on the other hand I don't want to encourage her to put herself in a position where she's seen as a trouble maker.

ohreally

Delete....

GlasweJen

ohreally wrote: »

Nudge her towards her unions self organised disabled group, meet up for a chat and put the state of play on their radar (there will be someone at branch level available for a chat).

I didn't even think of that, I'm sure there's a disability forum for staff too so will encourage her to contact them and hopefully they'll put her mind at ease a bit.

theoretica

I heard of an applicant (for another organisation) who had previously done the role as maternity cover and was surprised not to be invited to interview. Turned out the computer system had completely lost their application, despite the automatic acknowledgement email!

GlasweJen

She's had a letter saying she's not been selected for interview so they definitely got the application

Savvy_Sue

GlasweJen wrote: »

She could return to the private sector but would have no pension,

Not strictly true: by the end of this year all but the smallest employers will HAVE to be offering a pension under Auto-Enrolment, and will HAVE to be contributing into it. Employees have to contribute as well (unless the employer is unusually generous) and the scheme may not be as good as the NHS, but surely you have to contribute to that yourselves too?

GlasweJen

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Not strictly true: by the end of this year all but the smallest employers will HAVE to be offering a pension under Auto-Enrolment, and will HAVE to be contributing into it. Employees have to contribute as well (unless the employer is unusually generous) and the scheme may not be as good as the NHS, but surely you have to contribute to that yourselves too?

We do contribute to "superann" but it's a much better pension than she could ever dream of getting from a high street chain or independent optician. When I worked in Specsavers the directors of that shop paid £6K each into their pensions every month while the staff were on minimum wage, their sales commisons were slashed drastically for the slightest of errors (even ones that didn't affect profit) and the staff members had to record all their sales and go every month to basically beg for their bonus. Now I hasten to add that Specsavers are franchises and not all branches are like this but you don't know what you're signing up for until you've been offered a job so the last thing I would advise her to do is leave the hospital where she's on more than min wage and has maternity leave and other perks to go back to the world of begging for money you've earned while being berated for not earning enough for directors.

Put any famous optical company into the glass ceiling review site and prepare to have your eyes opened.

LittleMax

GlasweJen wrote: »

She met all of the essential criteria and 4/5 of the desirable.

But without feedback you don't know that she did. You weren't on the panel doing the shortlisting. She should ask for feedback.