Nepotism. Can anyone advise?

[WRAY]

Hi, im new to thr forum so unsure if i can ask this question but im looking for advice on the following situation.

An internal promotion arose and myself and a colleague applied. I did not get it. I am thinking to raise a grievance for the following reasons (just wondering if its reasonable).

1) the successful candidate was given advanced warning about the position so she could train /prepare.

2) she is friends with the manager and with one of the interviewers.

3) she had only been in the job a month or so. Ive been there for 2 years (with no complaints regarding my work).

Ive requested feedback to see if theres a genuine reason for ne not getting the role but 4 months later ive still not received it.

The day before the interview my manager suggested i applied for other jobs.

To me it seem unfair and unequal opportunities. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mr D]

1 you had 2 years they had a month. How much extra did you need?

2 yes? It's not uncommon to know people you work with. Have had promotion interview several times where I knew at least 2 people in the room interviewing. And pretty much every job have had have ended up knowing the manager.

3 not seeing there is a problem. Though manager suggesting you apply for other jobs suggests you are not great at the job in their eyes.

Does your company do interview feedback?


You can hassle the company about the promotion. What exactly are you looking to get out of it though?

 

[Clinton]

@WRAY , welcome to the real world.

• Sometimes things are unfair;
• Not everyone wins a prize at adult egg and spoon races;
• Life's a b*tch;
• If Johnny's bullying you, there's no Safeguarding Monitor around to tell him off;
• The world doesn't owe you anything ...and it takes full advantage of this fact.

myself and a colleague applied..

It's, not "myself and a colleague", it's "a colleague and I".

Apart from being bad usage, people who put themselves first in sentences like these tend to also be selfish people who put themselves first in the real world. I see a lot of this with the younger generation.

If you are not really like this then take care to put other people first in sentences like these. What you convey, orally and in writing, does say a lot about you.

 

[MBE2017]

Just to add to this advice FWIW, with large numbers of redundancies, reduced hours and sackings due over the year, OP might wish to consider how he “appears” to his employer.

Come across as a whiner, unhappy etc, it could mean you are fresh in the mind come any future lay offs, which might also be unfair, but people and life can be at times.

My advice, congratulate your colleague, get your head down, work better and harder than ever before, and hope your employer decides in the near future they chose the wrong person. Opportunities come along all the time, be ready to grab them rather than be sat in meetings wasting time.

 

[Newchodge]

Unless the reason for preferential treatment was one of the protected reasons under the Equalities Act there is nothing you can do about it legally. Within the workplace you can do all sorts of things - passive non-cooperation, slowing down your rate of work, getting by on the bare minimum, joining the ranks of the unemployed ...

 

[Newchodge]

Hi, im new to thr forum so unsure if i can ask this question but im looking for advice on the following situation.

An internal promotion arose and myself and a colleague applied. I did not get it. I am thinking to raise a grievance for the following reasons (just wondering if its reasonable).

1) the successful candidate was given advanced warning about the position so she could train /prepare.

2) she is friends with the manager and with one of the interviewers.

3) she had only been in the job a month or so. Ive been there for 2 years (with no complaints regarding my work).

Ive requested feedback to see if theres a genuine reason for ne not getting the role but 4 months later ive still not received it.

The day before the interview my manager suggested i applied for other jobs.

To me it seem unfair and unequal opportunities. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Sorry, I missed ythe point that this happened 4 MONTHS AGO.

Forget it and move on

 

[NickGrogan]

Just because a promotion becomes available doesn't mean that you should be promoted.

Maybe you've reached the top of your career ladder?

 

[obscure]

Maybe they didn't promote you because they don't think you are good enough for a higher level position.

 

[WRAY]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

The world does not owe me anything and I do not expect to be promoted just because a position becomes available. However, I do expect to be treated fairly and to be given an equal opportunity.

My main issue is that the company did not follow their recruitment policy to ensure it was a fair process; they have breeched it.

Had I have been unsuccessful at a fair interview, then I would have no issue. However, merit, qualifications, references, experience, attitude and loyalty were automatically overlooked.

I have grievance meeting booked for next week. Hopefully I can obtain constructive feedback, if nothing else.

 

[paulears]

IF you were the boss, and one of your employees booked a grievance meeting when in your view you were really relieved you gave the job to the right person, how would you feel?

You must accept that while equality and 'openness' policies mean that many people get invited to apply, in a large amount of the cases, the job will go to the person most suited, and the other interviews and applications are pointless, because they already know the staff. After two years, they gave it to somebody else? Ask yourself why? Clearly they felt it was not for you. Now you are complaining, so they will feel justified. Good job you have gone over the two years, otherwise you could have just been let go.

I once had a boss, who called me into the office and said he was really sorry, but he'd made a mistake and given my pay rise to my colleague, because he had just got married, had a big mortgage and needed the raise, where as I still lived at home with my mum and dad. He told me he couldn't give it to everyone, and he believed my colleagues need was greater - but he had to explain why he did it. I was a bit miffed, but I understood. If he had not done this - because he really didn't need to, I'd have been grumpy with the boss and not understood and taken it as me not being appreciated.

I'd just suck it up and move on, or look for another job.

 

[Mr D]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

The world does not owe me anything and I do not expect to be promoted just because a position becomes available. However, I do expect to be treated fairly and to be given an equal opportunity.

My main issue is that the company did not follow their recruitment policy to ensure it was a fair process; they have breeched it.

Had I have been unsuccessful at a fair interview, then I would have no issue. However, merit, qualifications, references, experience, attitude and loyalty were automatically overlooked.

I have grievance meeting booked for next week. Hopefully I can obtain constructive feedback, if nothing else.

Lots of people get interviewed but if only one job then only one gets it.
Usually scoring on the interview.

Have been both sides of the interview table. Time in job, qualifications, merit etc mean nothing at the interview - they were what got you there, up to you to ace the interview.
And every time have been on interview panel, across multiple businesses, the highest score on the interview is who gets the job.
Score lower than someone else at interview and those other aspects do not need to matter.

Have had experienced staff doing the darn promoted job as a temporary supervisor for over a year who did not ace at interview and did not get the promotion.
And some kid straight from the jobcentre with a new degree in pocket get the job - because scored highest at the one common aspect all the relevant candidate share. The interview.

You got the interview. You then did not impress enough. Work on that.

 

[WRAY]

The interview used a point scoring system. I have seen the results of that and it has been doctered in two places.

The job was earmarked for the successful candidate so there was nothing I could have done differently. My interview was just a formality.

I shall be leaving the company next month, along with 6 other team members. Unfortunately my experience is more common than I thought. Policies are not followed and given the nature of the job it is a risky position to be in.

 

[fisicx]

Doctored how?

Did someone get a pen and cross out your scores?

 

[Aleksander_Gramm]

I agree with @Clinton
Life is life. It is a chance to draw conclusions. In such situation we all need to learn the lesson.

 

[BustersDogs]

I once missed out on an interview for a job I had been *doing* as 'acting' for 3/4 months, and had been working alongside the person in that role for 3 years. It was given to some new guy who hadn't done that type of work before and was constantly getting things wrong, spending time on the wrong things, coming up with ideas that would never get past the managers (and they didn't). What was irritating was the feedback I got was that to get the promotion I needed to certain parts of the role in greater depth. I had way more knowledge and experience that that guy. But maybe there was something he had, that I didn't. Or maybe even something I had, that he didn't, that they didn't want.

Sometimes you just have to suck it up.

 

[NickGrogan]

The interview used a point scoring system. I have seen the results of that and it has been doctered in two places.

The job was earmarked for the successful candidate so there was nothing I could have done differently. My interview was just a formality.

I shall be leaving the company next month, along with 6 other team members. Unfortunately my experience is more common than I thought. Policies are not followed and given the nature of the job it is a risky position to be in.

You had two years to impress them, you didn't.

You had an interview 4 months ago and you're launching a grievance now, even you'll be leaving next month.

I suspect your bad luck at interviews will follow you if you carry on like this.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Its not unusual to head hunt a person who's skills you know, but due to company policy you have to advertise the position to the rest of the company staff

You were not what they wanted for this position and the boss told you to apply for other jobs that he thought you might be better suited for, I bet you never followed this up but just stewed in the background

 

[Bob Morgan]

In some parts of the world 'True Nepotism' is seeing 3 Generations of the same family working side-by-side in the same Government Department - And, the same surname for the whole department!

 

[Mark T Jones]

In some parts of the world 'True Nepotism' is seeing 3 Generations of the same family working side-by-side in the same Government Department - And, the same surname for the whole department!

Are you referring to Norfolk, or The Forest of Dean?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Interesting, but what makes you think it's limited to Government departments

ps sorry thought you were talking about incest, that be fine in Norrfolk

 

[Bob Morgan]

Interesting, but what makes you think it's limited to Government departments

ps sorry thought you were talking about incest, that be fine in Norrfolk

Lincolnshire apparently!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Ahh the great north

 

[simon field]

Are you referring to Norfolk, or The Forest of Dean?

We don’t draw the line at just working with family in Norfolk!

 

[fisicx]

We don’t draw the line at just working with family in Norfolk!

Is that a ‘hallo uncle dad’ situation?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

The problem you have when decisions are made that turn out to be wrong is that the bosses will often move the goalposts so that the favoured new recruit appears to be more capable than they are. If you make a successful appeal the reverse can happen.

You have to move on.

I once missed out on a promotion to a female colleague who was vivacious, ebullient, a popular team player but management material, not by a long shot.
A real go getter who was very friendly with her clients. One major contract being won in the stationery cupboard after an office party!

The bosses hadn't considered that she would be distanced from face to face client contact (or face to back of head - 'allegedly' )and would instead be office bound, coming up with ideas and motivating others, all new territory for her that could not be easily taught. She lasted 3 months.

Move on........

 

[Bob Morgan]

This thread reminds me of an old joke from the Carolinas in the Former United States of America! A man is driving through South Carolina and his car breaks-down. A local man is nearby and asks the man to come back to his house until the Repair Truck arrives. When they get back to the house the local man invites the driver to his house “C’mon in and meet my Wife, my Sisters, and my Daughters!” – There was only ONE woman there!

 

[ecommerce84]

Are you referring to Norfolk, or The Forest of Dean?

I’ve just relayed what you said to my mum, sister, aunt and girlfriend and both of us think it’s a low blow.

 

[jimbof]

Are you referring to Norfolk, or The Forest of Dean?

It's not that bad here in Norfolk - I've only had one girlfriend with webbed feet... (!)