Job application question a

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clarecelt

Registered User
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79
Hi,
My wife recently applied for an advertised job which she was very interested in and had all the necessary qualifications and work experience and was looking forward to an interview.

Yesterday received the "Thanks very much but better luck next time" letter.

Needless to say she was very annoyed and wants to know why she wasnt selected for interview. Our feeling is that they were obliged to advertise but already had identified someone internally.

Is there any way a person can find out the reasons for not being selected.
 
I believe it's now fairly commonplace and acceptable to politely make enquiries to the interviewers as to why your wife was not the chosen candidate on this occasion.

But is your wife's indignation justified? Surely it's possible that no matter how suitable she may have been, that there were others more suitable or who performed better at interview?
 
clarecelt said:
Needless to say she was very annoyed and wants to know why she wasnt selected for interview. Our feeling is that they were obliged to advertise but already had identified someone internally.
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Unless this is a public sector job whats the problem if they were obliged to advertise and already had ear marked someone else for the job? Its not your wife's right to be interviewed. Its up to a company to select you for interview. You are almost suggesting that your wife was entitled to an interview because she thought she fit the role. I am sure lots of people think they are perfect for jobs and dont get them.
 
The company would ideally have a documented screening process to show why you wife wasnt selected for an interview. Failure to have such could lead the company being unable to prove that they didnt discriminate on one of the grounds of equality.
 
Sorry but I think it was arrogant of anyone to apply for a job and expect to be interviewed. There may be many reasons but whatever about wondering why you failed at interview stage I think it's a bit much to be annoyed for not getting that far.
 
clarecelt said:
Is there any way a person can find out the reasons for not being selected.
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Yes - under Freedom of Information your wife can request access to any information that company has related to her. The company that I work for has a strict policy about keeping interview notes and doing objective grading of candidates afterward (i.e. filling out a form), as people may look for this information if they're not successful.
Having said that I would agree with caveat that the company in question probably had a good reason for saying no at application stage - having more suitable and qualified internal candidates is a perfectly good reason IMO. There's probably no big conspiracy to it.
 
vontrapp said:
Yes - under Freedom of Information your wife can request access to any information that company has related to her.
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Are you sure about that? I thought that Freedom Of Information (FOI) applies to public/government bodies only.

Are you perhaps referring to Data Protection?
 
CCOVICH said:
Are you sure about that? I thought that Freedom Of Information (FOI) applies to public/government bodies only.

Are you perhaps referring to Data Protection?
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DP deals with how you use a person's private data that you have on file, e.g., if they provide their phone number in relation to a job application you can't use that number to try selling them products. I'm not sure if FOI deals only with public bodies but I am told by almost all HR people now that interview notes and the like must be produced in the event of a complaint. I know through work of more than one complaint being made to the Equality Authority as a result of unsuccessful interviews.
 
Perhaps it's covered under discrimination legislation, but it's the same in our place. All written notes during interview must be submitted to HR. This is in case a failed candidate decides to sue the company for some reason.

Not relevant for the OP though, as this never got to interview stage.
Leo
 
clarecelt said:
Needless to say she was very annoyed and wants to know why she wasnt selected for interview. Our feeling is that they were obliged to advertise but already had identified someone internally.
Click to expand...
Unless she knows all the other people who applied and their experience and qualifications, she has no good reason to be annoyed at this stage. 'Going through the motions' of a recruitment process does happen, but there is no reason to jump to conclusions.

If she wants to learn from the experience, a simple call to the HR person involved seeking feedback to guide future applications may well suffice.
 
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