to be concerned about apparent gender bias at work?

[StuckintheBellJar]

This is bugging me. I've half convinced myself that I'm just suffering from sour grapes. On our team we've been short of a manager (we have several per team) for some time. For eight months I've been picking up the slack - doing my normal work along with a ream of tasks which should be done by a manager.

Finally, interviews were held. I got through to the final round, but did not get the job. A man from another team who will need to be trained up, is being parachuted in. He has less qualifications and experience than me. All of our managers are male. All of the 'shop floor' staff are female.

How likely is this to be a coincidence?

How would you handle this?

Have you asked them for feedback as to why you didn't get the job?

If it's a coincidence then I am a supermodel.

I would be asking them why bring someone in who is less capable than you.

It's a reasonable question.

yup ask for feed back plus help with an action plan to help you get to your goal next time

I have asked for feedback. We're snowed under at the moment and will take time to organise.

In many of the firm that I have work for they don't promote from within the team as it can cause issues.

I agree with asking for feedback and I really feel for you if you have been fulfiling that role.
They might have considered that he had better people management skills which can be more down to personality traits and it would be easier to train him up on the more day to day tasks.
This has happened at our place, but the two people in question were both male. In this instance, it was a major mistake to parachute someone else into the team who had no understanding of what we did and was unable to fight our corner technically. Our top level manager has now agreed that promotions need to come from within the team and not from outside.

I can see how that may happend, Boney. However, all of the other managers could their teeth here.

I was thinking the same as Boney, if there are team issues where I work they like to move people in from elsewhere rather than promote from the actual team

Agree ask for feedback, along with a copy of your scores and the (anonymised) scores of other candidates

Agree ask for feedback, along with a copy of your scores and the (anonymised) scores of other candidates

Anonymised scores? Now why didn't I think of that?

Where they promoted from within the team that they manage or from a different team?

I have left my job and the woman that's as standing in did not get the job. Someone from another team did. Yes they will need training, but sometimes someone new can be a good thing.
Also I got promotes 3 times in the first 3 years there, above some people who were more experienced.
I would ask for feed back and 'scores' I would also ask how you can improve for next time and go from there.

A bloke that works for me could have written your exact mail. Plus the "parachuter in" (me!) only bothers to turn up 3 days a week. So it may not be gender bias.