Great interview, great presentation, but didn't get the job

[Vanilla]

Is the OP saying that his niece didnt get the job because she is English and neglected to inform the interviewers that she is of Irish descent? I think this is the subtext. That may be the case depending on the nature of the job and the interviewers. It might be that they would prefer an Irish person over an English person for various reasons. If the OP believes this is the case then she should subtly include the informations on the application or in the next interview.

Is the OP asking whether she should have mentioned her connection to an Irish Minister? That depends on the job, the interviewers and so on. She is better placed to answer that herself. No matter how much we ( and possibly the OP and his niece) might dislike the idea it is quite possible that a connection to a politician might be an added incentive to hire her. Again if she feels it might make the difference then, depending on whether her principles outweigh any moral abhorrence she might have to doing so, she should have mentioned it in a very oblique way if that were possible.

 

[ClubMan]

Hello

Maybe the applicant for the job should have had her uncle do the interview for her in the first place, in the same way as he is seeking advice in this forum on her behalf.

SM

 

[mprsv1000]

I should point out that she neglected to say that she is of Irish descent and that her partner's uncle is a Minister in the present government (not that this would have made any difference I'm sure).

Well it all depends on what her partners (it might not be a boyfriend!) uncle was minister of and his attitude towards back scratching

Interestingly I went for a senior post recently came accross from the U.K and (got the job) I know the agency also sent a female candidate fromthe U.K aslo...mmmmmmmh! not a job in education by change?

If she scored highest on the day then really she should have been offered the job, if it was close between two applicants then they might revert to the application form, so something doesn't sound quite right.

 

[BillK]

Well done Vanilla; you seem to be one of very few posters to have read the original post.

I was not looking for advice, simply for comments - I have lived in England for 60 years and am not too familiar with work practices in Ireland.

 

[ClubMan]

I was not looking for advice

Er...

I would welcome any comments or guidance that I could pass on to the dear girl.

 

[Moose]

I have a question about canvassing that doesn't merit its own thread, so I'm putting it here. I noticed a job advertised recently for a new local development that has really caught my interest. This advertised job is managerial and currently far out of my league, but it got me thinking that there may well be admin jobs in the pipeline. I've visited the website of the development and there's no concrete date set yet for its opening. If I sent a covering letter and CV for the attention of the person concerned with filling the managerial job (this person is based in City Hall, so perhaps they have stricter guidelines re unsolicited CVs), stressing that I realise I am not qualified for this particular post but would appreciate it if they could keep my CV on file for more suitable roles in future, would this be interpreted as "canvassing" or as "Oh, this person is quite enthusiastic about working on this project"?

 

[RainyDay]

I have a question about canvassing that doesn't merit its own thread, so I'm putting it here. I noticed a job advertised recently for a new local development that has really caught my interest. This advertised job is managerial and currently far out of my league, but it got me thinking that there may well be admin jobs in the pipeline. I've visited the website of the development and there's no concrete date set yet for its opening. If I sent a covering letter and CV for the attention of the person concerned with filling the managerial job (this person is based in City Hall, so perhaps they have stricter guidelines re unsolicited CVs), stressing that I realise I am not qualified for this particular post but would appreciate it if they could keep my CV on file for more suitable roles in future, would this be interpreted as "canvassing" or as "Oh, this person is quite enthusiastic about working on this project"?

If the role is a public sector role, the rules of openness and transparency would mean that the hiring manager can do nothing with the unsolicited CV should new roles open up. The best you can hope for is that they would notify you of vacancies.

 

[Moose]

I'm not actually sure if the role is a public sector one (the managerial one certainly doesn't seem to have the usual clarifications that you'd find in a public sector job announcement), even though the submission address is City Hall. I'd have assumed - as you said - that City Hall can't really do anything with CVs that aren't in direct response to an advertised vacancy, but I guess I'd be happy with sending it in just to signal enthusiasm, regardless of the fact that there would still be a need to reapply via an application form or similar if a role was advertised. As long as it wasn't seen as canvassing, I guess it couldn't hurt. It's not exactly a lucrative job opening but I am genuinely interested in the underlying sector.