Unfair treatment at work :(

[Stumbeline]

ok this is a long story so bare with me! i work for the NHS in the mental health branch. i had been planning on applying for the nursing secondment for a whole year and jumped at it as the opportunity opened up. i became pregnant and went on maternity from April, and i planned on beginning my studies in March 2011.

out of nowhere they changed the intake dates to Sept2010, and after giving it some consideration i figured i could accommodate the new change as the university is not far from my house.

i was then offered an interview for the secondment but to my shock and surprise it was literally a day after my due day. i got in touch with them straight away and told them i would do any other day apart from that, but i was told 'sorry, better luck next time'! i fought and fought with them and was constantly given all sorts of excuses as to why an interview was not possible. eventually i reminded them that this was discrimination and they offered me an interview.

i studied and prepared for it. i even dumped the kids on my hubby for a day so that i could prepare thoroughly for it. the interview came, and it all went very well. it was quick but i answered all the questions.

later that day i was told i was not successful in getting it.

3 months down the line i finally got the feedback that i requested, and all it said was that i did not take a deep enough interest into the degree.

in my opinion that is not really a basis for not allowing someone to go through, especially as it is not true as i had been anticipating this opportunity for so long.

i feel like they did everything in their power to stop me from getting this opportunity, and i'm wondering what would you do in this situation? would you take it further? would you file a grievance? or would you just let it go?

Very hard to say or prove without reading their minds, but I don't think it was discrimination tbh.

on the quiet, i was told that a couple of people were told by someone quite high up that they should go for the secondment and lo and behold they all got the places... i knew this long before the interviews even took place. but its not something i can prove or even worth mentioning to them :( sigh.

"It was quick" suggests that perhaps your answers weren't detailed enough. Yes, you know that you are very interested in the degree but you may not have convinced them of that. I don't see what point there is a raising a grievance as the course has started now. Concentrate on what you can do differently next time.

perhaps you're right. my answers may have not been detailed. however the feedback did not suggest that.

I think if your answers weren't detailed enough, that would suggest that you hadn't done enough research, the conclusion being that you weren't interested enough. I'm not saying that's right just that may have been their thought process.

Presumably there was a competitive element to this in that there were more applicants than places? Even if your interview was good, it may still not have been as good as other people.

i didn't say my answers weren't detailed. they were pretty spot on as i had prepared thoroughly for it.

all they said in their feedback is that i did not appear to take an interest in the degree. and i can't figure out how they would have figured that out. had my answers not been detailed i would expect that in the feedback, or if i didnt answer something correctly, but this was not the case you see.

perhaps the other candidates were better than you were. Sorry but that's how it is sometimes.

Ask if they will elaborate and if they will give you some more detailed feedback on how you could be better next time.