Appealing job interview after rejection

DullGreyGuy

bobblebob said:

saajan_12 said:

bobblebob said:

...
As questions are score based, she will have received zero points of that question. In my opinion you cant ask that question to someone who is doing the role, its not fair and discriminates against her. 
...
Shes found out she didnt get the job, and she suspects its because she couldnt answer this question. I said to her ask for the interview scoring sheet they used and if thats the case, does she have ground to appeal to HR? 

So she doesn't know it was because of that question? Sounds fairly unlikely to be that robotic. 
Worth asking her manager if it was just that and potentially easier than a SAR. It may well just be other questions on soft skills or how interested she seemed etc. 

Not yet but she said she feels she answered all other questions well as they directly relate to the job, which of course she knows inside out doing it for 18 months. She is going to ask though

What she feels and what the interviewer feels may not be aligned, she may have felt it was "just a formality" and so was less prepared than the successful candidate who knew it was a competition to get the job. 

There is always multiple ways to answer a question even if its those annoying "give an example when..." type and you honestly think you've never been in the situation asked about, you either make up a scenario or give a hypothetical answer though an interview may struggle to believe an experienced hire has never been in certain situations. 

They could have answered about how much will be the same on a day to day basis with a synopsis of what they do as they've been in secondment on the role for X months but could have more hope for the future with it being a permanent role in taking on more complex items, additional training, taking more ownership etc as appropriate for the role. EG in our CM team temps/secondees support the perm staff even if they are the same grade as them whereas the perm staff "own" the relationship with specific clients. 

Elliott.T123

bobblebob said:

Fair enough that might have been the wrong word, but when you get asked a question in an interview you physically cannot answer through no fault of your own that doesnt seem very fair

She could have answered it, if she knew it was an NHS style interview where they are scored for an answer and the interviewers don't get much discretion then she could have easily done so. 

Have the job spec in front of you:

The spec mentions XYZ, in my current role I do that on a daily basis.
It also says you will be doing WXY, this is something I have been doing for the last 18 months.

If she has picked up extra responsibilities that aren't on the spec she could have said one area of difference is that the spec doesn't mention 123 but in my current role this is something that I took on 6 months ago and have been doing since.

It is a stupid game to play but if the interview is all about processes she could have done that.

Rosa_Damascena

If someone else was appointed over her - she was not the strongest candidate in the field. 

If the role goes out to advert again - they do not want her for whatever reason, and she needs to find a job where she is better regarded. 

It is quite normal to ask for (and receive) verbal feedback in a NHS interview, this should be her starting point rather than a SAR / appeal which truthfully feels a bit entitled.

Flugelhorn

actually she could have given a really great answer as she knew the new job better than anyone else - just have to compare it with the previous job 

LinLui

Sorry, but
(a) she has no idea at all how she performed at interview - her opinion on how well she did is irrelevant
(b) they aren't going to change their minds - in the very unlikely event that they did, does she want to work with managers and colleagues who have been forced to give her the job?
(c) she may well be entitled to see her own scores - she isn't entitled to see anyone elses, so she has no idea how they scored against her, so the information of what she scored is useless

To be honest, I've interviewed people in the same situation many times. Most of them fly through the interview because having done the job they have an inside track. But there's also a sizeable number who don't get the job because they get too cocky, think they know all the answers, think they've done really well at the interview but haven't answered the questions, and believe that personal relationships with managers (by that, I mean that the manager knows them and their work) will mean something more than it should. 

The other wild card is that many good candidates may not be willing to apply for temporary positions, but will for permanant positions - so she could simply have been outclassed by someone with much more experience / skills.

And by the way - your opinion is irrelevant! In a well managed interview process all candidates are asked the same questions and scored on that basis. And I agree with @LightFlare - that question could have been answered better with some thought, and thinking on your feet is one of the hallmarks of an interview.

TELLIT01

She did answer the question so there is no reason to think that she received zero points for her response.  Doing a job on secondment is absolutely no guarantee that the person will then be offered the substantive role.  I have personal knowledge of a person fulfilling a role for an extended period and then being told they can't even apply for the permanent role because they don't have the 'required' university degree.

The applicant will have no knowledge of the experience and ability of others who applied.  All they can do is request feedback on their interview and any areas requiring improvement to give them more chance in the future.  They certainly shouldn't go into HR or other management complaining about discrimination or claiming it should have been their job.  That will only reduce the likelihood of success in future.

Wyndham

It can be difficult to be interviewed for an internal role. Often the applicant misses out key information because they know that the interviewers already know it. Unfortuantely, on a scored interview, you have to still say it or you don't get points for it.

prowla

A system which scores you down for saying that it is your current role which you've been doing on a secondment basis for 18 months seems nonsensical.

You would have to invent differences between your currrent role and the identical offered role?

If the reason is indeed that, then the people who wrote the assessment evaluation are plainly incompetent.

Marcon

bobblebob said:

So a friend of mine has been doing an NHS role for 18 months on a secondment basis. They got the funding to make it permanent so they said you can apply to get it permanently. Bit annoying she had to apply for her own job but guess they have to do it all official. Shes good at her job, management are happy with he so we all thought it was just a formality really. 

She got an interview and one of the questions asked was "please can you describe the differences between your current role and this role your applying for?"

She said well i cant really answer that I've been doing the role for 18 month, there is no differences to my current role. As questions are score based, she will have received zero points of that question. In my opinion you cant ask that question to someone who is doing the role, its not fair and discriminates against her. Her current manager was on the interview panel so they knew the situation, and also it was mentioned in her application

Shes found out she didnt get the job, and she suspects its because she couldnt answer this question. I said to her ask for the interview scoring sheet they used and if thats the case, does she have ground to appeal to HR? 

I think your logic is flawed. If you are saying she got zero points for answering by pointing out that she's already doing the job and has been for 18 months (not the same thing as 'unable to answer the question') so there are no differences, then on that basis a candidate would only get full marks if they said there were massive differences/no similarities - hardly a recommendation!

She wasn't the best candidate. End of story.

gwynlas

Having worked in Social Services and the NHS it does not matter if many  of the interview panel are  friends and you are already carrying out the role. At interview you have to treat the panel as a bunch of strangers and explain exactly how you do the role and why you think your knowledge nd experience is relevant, At one time I had to be interviewed three times for a role until funding became permanent. Another time the job went to a personal friend of my manager who then expected me to provide training as I had been seconded into it for 12 months.