Any NHS HR people around please? Or any HR people!

[IslaBas]

A month ago I was interviewed and verbally offered a new job within the trust I already work for.

I have been waiting for my unconditional offer letter and today chased up HR to see if there was a delay at all. I received a reply which said

“your offer is being rescinded, to ensure a process of fairness a second round of interviews will now take place we will contact you soon”

I contacted the person who interviewed me who had no idea what was going on. They had also received an email saying a second round would happen but with a new interview panel.

Legally I realise that I have no grounds here (although ACAS seems to suggest a verbal offer is binding). I have spoken to another manager who thinks it’s outrageous and had never heard of this happening before.

HR are refusing to give me anymore information other than “concerns have been flagged”.

Does anyone here have any advice? I am absolutely gutted. I prepped so hard for this interview and I know I did bloody well. Hate the thought that someone is implying I don’t deserve the job and that I’ve been given it unfairly

Small bump

Blimey this seems unfair. Perhaps @flowery could offer some advice?

Are you in a union? If not, you should join one asap.

I am in a union and have spoken to ACAS this morning who informed me that yes a verbal offer is binding, however, I can’t force them to give me the job and the best I’d get is take them to the tribunal and get paid for the notice period (whilst burning my bridges).

I’m presuming that the other candidate has raised concerns and they are now running the interviews again. But does that mean I can then raise a concern if I don’t get the job this time around? How many times can we just keep interviewing

I worked in NHS HR for a number of years. How weird, the only time I have ever heard of anything like this happening is where one of the other candidates has had a complaint about the recruitment process upheld - in that scenario though I've always advised that what's done is done and while we'll do whatever we can to make it right for the unfairly treated/unsuccessful candidate, we can't perpetuate the wrong by withdrawing the offer to the successful candidate. But perhaps if it really was a doozy of a mistake, perhaps involving some kind of discrimination, the trust have taken the view that the risks of not giving the other candidate a fair shot outweighs the risks of being unfair to you

If this is the case I would imagine they will be very wary of disclosing too much to you which might explain why they've been cagey in what they'd told you. If so you still stand a good chance of getting the job - I wonder if you call up either a senior HR person (the admin people handling this will probably be nervous of saying too much) or the recruiting manager, they might give you more of an idea of what's happening over the phone (as phone calls unlike emails etc. can't be disclosed in any subsequent court case)? If my hunch is right you may well still stand a very good chance of being hired under the 'new'/fairer process if you are still demonstrably the best candidate?

Good luck!

Thank you @maxelly. I have spoken to the recruiting manager, she is completely in the dark. They have just been told concerns have been flagged and they are out of the loop for the second round.

HR being super cagey. I did think that perhaps the other candidate has raised a concern re discrimination. There were only two of us interviewed for an internal post.

Just to add, its highly unlikely to be anything you did so please don't feel like you've done anything wrong - but the kinds of mistake I am thinking of that might lead the trust to act in this way would be (for example) disability discrimination related - so a disabled candidate who'd requested a reasonable adjustment, e.g. a hearing loop or an accessible meeting room, had it forgotten or unreasonably turned down, leading to them being totally flustered/put off during the interview and performing very badly. The trust might feel the only fair thing to do would be to start all over again with a fresh panel to give that person a fair chance - in which case you might well still come out on top as the best candidate. To be honest even if that was the case, I am not sure that is a fair outcome to either you or the other person, it could be argued either way. You would be totally entitled to put in your own grievance/complaint of unfair treatment in that case.

I know it's hard but as a first step try and remain calm and get to the bottom of what's happening without getting flustered?

@maxelly, I have asked them for confirmation in writing that they are rescinding my offer. They have ignored.

I’m going to take some time to think things through, but yes I’m that case I would expect the person to be given another fair shot, it doesn’t seem unreasonable. That leaves me in a rather crap place if I now lose out on the job though

If you were verbally offered the job then I would be surprised if they rescind the offer in writing, so wouldn't wait for that.

Op did you know one of the interviewers well? Could there be an accusation of Bias? That the other person is possibly more qualified and feels you were given it due to nepotism?

Or should more people have been interviewed and someone has claimed they didn’t get an opportunity?

I have previously worked for one of the panel. Not uncommon in the NHS at all, especially internal posts. If they did this for everyone who has been appointed by someone they have worked with nobody would ever get a job!

It was an internal post open for a standard amount of time, I don’t think many people applied

Just bide your time. Do not jump to any conclusions. It all may be trivial. Do not get all antagonistic with them (yet). If you still want the job it may be a waiting game. They are not behaving well but you still want the job so hang on in.

Only thing I can think of is if there are other potentially eligible people who've been identified as at risk of redundancy? The redundancy process might dictate that all current vacancies are considered in case they're suitable redeployment opportunities. So they would have to interview the at-risk people, and for fairness could choose a completely fresh interview panel for all candidates at once.

If there is no current redundancy process happening in the organisation, then my guesses are a) a candidate with a protected characteristic who met all the criteria was not interviewed and has challenged it, or b) something else has been discovered about the fairness of the initial process which means they need to start again.

I'm sorry - it's rotten for you, particularly as they wouldn't be able to give you an explanation without breaching other people's confidentiality.

@MutteringDarkly, I suspect it’s b)

The wording of their explanation “concerns have been flagged regarding the interview process”, makes me think it’s definitely not redundancy related or the initial recruitment, but someone has raised an issue with the actual interview. Given there were only two of us and it isn’t me...

It is a fixed term post, I was rolling the dice going for it as it is. Potentially I’ll be out of a job at the end of the term, feeling very “what’s the point” now.

I work for NHS in Scotland. This happened to a girl I know she it was down to a bad reference as she has poor attendance.

Did you have to supply references.

Just a long shot as I can't understand it either

They hadn’t gone out for references yet.

I’ve spoken to a colleague in HR and they said it was outrageous. They haven’t come across this before either. Lots of unhappy people who don’t get offers, but never to the point that they rerun the interviews after an offer has been made.

What is stopping me asking for a rerun if I don’t get it this time?

I’m considering asking for a copy of my interview notes and scores...not sure if that is a good idea or not but I’d like to see how I did score wise

HR person here (including NHS). Would have to be a serious complaint, either regarding discrimination (I’ve had managers try to exclude 2 ticks candidates who have met the essential criteria, for example) or foul play (had a complaint that the successful candidate had been given a copy of the questions prior to the interview. Could even be that none of the panel members had been trained.

One of the panel members is HR through and through, so that excludes lack of training. Our system doesn’t allow for 2 ticks to be excluded, they are automatically given an interview. So I’m guessing a complaint re foul play or discrimination?

@Feminist10101, what would you suggest I do? Do I have any rights regarding knowing what the complaint is? If someone is implying I have acted dishonestly I’d like to know

You’d know about it if it involved you potentially acting dishonestly.

Could be lots of things. Have you got a union rep you could ask to ask questions on your behalf?

Quick update.

No news on interview, no reply to any emails I’ve sent to HR...