Senior Management vacancy and appointment.

I work for a Financial Company in Ireland.

Recently this company advertised internally for a senior management position within its operational division.

Prior to the deadline date even closing for people to apply for the role it was discovered that management had produced a document which had the "unfilled role" filled by a named person in the company.

Management brushed this off by advising that it was nothing just one of the managers messing around (creative thinking).

Lo and behold after the deadline passed and interviews took place the named individual was successful in their application for the role - lets say people arent happy.

What is the legal position on this ?

Re: Something Stinks

None - the interview process was a formality to keep you guys happy, happens regularly. Management have full control over who they hire and promote.

Re: Something Stinks

Are you in a union? I think your union is the best place to start for advice. This happen regularily in my company. Usually when someone leaves the junior person left behind doing the job is the most likely candidate. This person says they are not taking on the extra work unless they get paid as the grade of the person leaving. They cannot just promote this person as they have agreed with the unions how they handle job vacancies. So the job is advertised and interviews are held and surprise surprise this candidate gets the job. You can nearly tell when its a waste of time applying just by asking around about the job. It usually saves the company money as this person is now doing their new job and their old job for the price of the senior position.

In this situation the unions don't really take action. They know it goes on but 90% of the time this person is the right person for the job. The union might have a problem if there are 2 or 3 people in the area equally suitable for the job and one of these is unofficially given the job before it is advertised. This stuff is hard to prove. The union knows it goes on and anecdotally they know who's going to get the job but if the company go through the motions of advertising it, setting up interviews etc. how can they prove this person wasn't the most suitable candidate. We have even had instances where the company want to employ someone externally but the rules state you have to advertise it internally first so the job spec. is drawn up in such a way as to eliminate the internal candidates i.e. degree in xxx a must, 5 years senior management experience etc. The unions hate this one and will fight it but the fact that it still goes on tells you their success rate in dealing with these cases.

In your case management got caught red handed and the unions have more to go on than usual but it really depends on how strong your union is. i'd say you talk to them first.

In practical terms, I doubt if anything you do will change the decision about this position. Your only legal entitlement would be if you could prove that one of the other applicants for this position was discriminated against on one of the nine grounds mentioned in equality legislation.

However, you may well be able to change the policy for future reference. Is there any channel for staff to raise relevant issues with management, such as a partnership committee, or a union group, or a morale committee. You could get this issue raised, with the suggestion that you don't go through a 'charade' recruitment process in future. If management have chosen one individual for a position, so be it - let's not play games about it. You could choose to try to educate management on the benefits of a fair and open recruitment process, but you'll probably be beating your head against a brick wall.

is the person who got the job the right person for the job do you think? - be honest & objective now....