To wonder what else she lied about?

[afrikat]

A new head of department started this week. Very senior and it's taken quite a while to fill the role. The subject matter is quite niche and to be honest, her background doesn't really fit with the requirements needed and no one is quite sure why she has been appointed. Think we are all hoping she's suddenly going to wow us with whatever she showed at interview to get herself hired but in the meantime she is just a bit....meh. Doesn't seem to understand the subject very well and has no real experience of managing a large team.

There is a strict rule where I work which states you need to be within a certain travel time. If you aren't, no job offer is supposed to be made. This person bragged to a close colleague that she lied about her address at interview - she made up an address close to the office and when offered the job found a room to rent nearby as her family home is 3 hours away. She is now renting Monday to Friday and commuting home for the weekend.

So now I am wondering, if she lied about that, did she lie about other stuff? Has she exaggerated her experience to get the job? I guess only time will tell but it just seems an odd thing to be so open about and just indicates a predisposition to...bend the truth

Or am I over thinking it and they didn't want HR to be awkward about a job offer when they knew they would be willing to move?

I think you are over thinking. Every job has a settling in period. Give her a chance.

Erm...well she clearly never intended to commute for 6 hours a day and her address during the working week is in the correct area so I'd say that was a white lie at best.

You sound a bit petty and like youre not giving her a chance at all.

Good point about the petty / giving her a chance. She's probably got way too much expectation on her due to the length of time the post has been vacant and how glad we all were to finally get someone one board - I'll chill out and let her find her feet 😊

Aww yea maybe it's just really high expectations all round. Give her a bit of time.

If this was the other way, and someone on MN wanted to apply for a job and would be willing to move, everyone would say go for it.

YABU

Not your business really, op. Give her a chance, she may do well.

She is now renting Monday to Friday and commuting home for the weekend.

So she lives quite close to where she works during the week and then she enjoys visiting and spending time with her family in her own free time when she isn't at work. That's.... pretty much like most people, then - hardly the crime of the century, is it?

I thought you were going to say she'd rented a 'fronting' address just for the first month, to make it appear that she lived acceptably near, and then go back to living at her old home and commuting in every day. That would have been a lie and indeed unreasonable; but she's actually moved to live near to where her job is.

Whenever jobs stipulate that you must live nearby, that means once you're offered and accept the job. You can originally come from the other side of the world for all they care, as long as you arrange to move to live nearby in time for when you start the job.

Are you in a senior management position, does this affect you in any way at all.

It sounds like you just don't like her. Perhaps she's trying to find out a bit more about you and the team rather than trying to 'wow' you, as you put it. Were you after the job yourself?

Give her a chance.

This is what I dread when starting a new job. Not relocating or finding my feet, so much as junior colleagues immediately trying to find a weak spot and sniping about incompetence when you can’t do the role perfectly after three days.

There is a strict rule where I work which states you need to be within a certain travel time. If you aren't, no job offer is supposed to be made

How come? Genuinely interested to know.

Three days and she's already the victim of petty office gossip, I wonder why the job has been vacant for so long, is it a nasty workplace.

@HaveSomeGrace we have this in my company for operational roles (think gas/electric emergencies) you have to be within 45 mins of your depot if you're on call etc.

As for the renting mon-fri thing, that's pretty common, I see it often at senior levels. Doesn't sound like she's out to truck people

There would have been no point in having a room before she actually got the job but as soon as she did know she made sure she was close enough to be within the rules of her job.

To be honest it sounds like for whatever reason you don't really feel she should be there and that might be affecting how you view her/her actions. I'm honestly not trying to be nasty and I apologise if iv got it wrong but most of your post is negative about someone who has only worked there a matter of days.

I can see why the post has come across as nasty and that wasn't my intention. I suppose I was just putting together the fact she made up an address when applying with the fact she doesn't have the experience you'd expect for the particular role. Hopefully she will settle in soon

It sounds like she actually does live quite close. She didn't love close during the interview but rectified it asap...

As for her being inexperienced/not qualified:

The other applicants could jave been worse. Or maybe HR/the hiring committee (?) knows something you don't know...

I'd give her some time to settle/give her a chance.