To wonder what the point in interviewing is when you already have someone for the job

[Florasnotin]

I work for a big organisation, one of the main employers in the UK

We've recently had quite a few staff members leave and then their jobs go up for interview. The last three jobs all went to internal staff from our unit. We all knew who was going to get the job before it even went to the application stage.

I had to bring all the candidates to the right room and give them their pre interview tests etc the other day. I felt awful making polite conversation with people who had gone out of the way to prepare for a job interview when I knew damn well they weren't going to get the job. I know its for 'fairness' it has to be advertised but it's such a waste of everyones time.

I overheard my manager coaching our internal candidate in the kitchen ten minutes before she interviewed her.

AIBU to think this is a waste of time and to wonder why they have to go to interview in the first place?

Legal discrimination is the point of choosing a candidate!

No complaints from me. I was interviewed alongside the internal candidate who had already been doing the job for a year, and they gave it to me. I wouldn't be in my job right now unless they had advertised it.

Now, on the other side of the table, I do a lot of recruitment, and it's true that the internal candidate often gets the job, but not always. The thing is, internal candidates often have the advantage of knowing what the organisation is looking for and having experience that is directly relevant. Sometimes, if they're respected and liked in the organisation, the interviewers might be rooting for them and hoping that they will perform well in the selection process. On the other hand, internal candidates can't really get away with any bullshit.

What I can say, hand on heart, is that I've never interviewed an internal candidate with a view that it was a done deal, and ultimately, if one of the external candidates is better, they will get the job.

I think this happens in nearly all NHS jobs! Ive also seen staff who have been "acting up" in temporary posts going for the permanent post and not getting it. I've also come across staff who stand up to management never getting promotion when they go for it. I'll probably get flamed for this but I have been encouraged to apply for internal jobs too and basically been given the interview questions and answers and coached before the interview.

Doesn't surprise me at all littlemiss it happened all the time in the NHS trust I worked for .

it has to be advertised

No it doesn't. It's just a myth. There's nothing in law that requires a firm to advertise vacancies. As for "fairness", it achieves nothing of the sort as everyone knows it's smoke and mirrors. Many large organisations, even such as some NHS trusts, don't advertise outside their own doors. I've seen many "internal candidate only" advertisements!

All an employer needs to do is to ensure it doesn't fall foul of any of the legally protected discriminations, i.e. age, sex, religion, disability, race. If it properly considers the existing staff, does a proper evaluation of their attributes, experience, abilities, qualifications, etc appropriate to the job, it has nothing to fear.

On the contrary, a mock public application/interview process that is just smoke and mirrors could land them in trouble with the anti-discrimination laws if they then favour an internal applicant ahead of an external applicant who may claim they've been subject to discrimination and may be successful if the employer hasn't done a proper valid evaluation and comparison of ALL applicants.

I hate to say it, but I was once that "internal" candidate for a job. I was "head hunted" to be the in-house finance director for a client where I was their auditor from an external accounting firm. Even though I'd been offered the job and accepted it, the firm insisted they had to advertise it and "go through the motions". As the external auditor, I even sat on a review committee to give my input as to the short listed candidates, sat there knowing it was a waste of everyone's time and that the job was mine. What an absolute sham. As it turned out, once I was formally appointed as finance director, and got myself more involved in all aspects of the company's management at Board level, I become more and more disillusioned and left after only a couple of years as I really didn't want to be involved with all the pantomime and political correctness that was going on.

Sometimes interviewees are just going through the motions too. The job centre forces people to interview for jobs they don’t want and in many cases aren’t suitable for. My previous employer had people actually turn up and say they didn’t want the job, they just came to the interview so their benefits didn’t get stopped.

In my company even some jobs that are only advertised internally are already taken. They will interview but know who is the preferred candidate and that person will get the job. The preferred candidate will not necessarily be the best candidate, they will just have the right backing.

It's shit. Especially when you put in a lot of effort into preparing for the interview.

I had this for a civil service job i was really interested in. First of all the pack sent out in advance had practice numerical tests that I found really difficult andbwere wcen difficult for my brother who has a maths degree. I went along anyway and the tests were actually very simple. I spoke to a few other people who said they think the practice tests were designed to put some people off. There were a group of 7 people already doing the job as temps. I never heard back and I assume the temps went full time.

I remember applying for a job in Liverpool, I was qualified for. I paid for a train to the interview and a hotel for the night before, as it was around a 6 hour round trip (3 hours each way). BF at the time had just moved to Liverpool so I was planning on living with him...

I was sat in the waiting room to be interview and the woman before me had been in there about 25 minutes, as she came out, the interviewer gave her a hug and said ''see you on saturday Julie''. Turns out that they'd given it already to a woman who worked there (I found out after through a mutual friend who worked there (different department). I was only in the interview room for about 10 minutes, and it was obvious they were skipping questions. What a waste of 250.00 for hotel/train for not even a fair chance :(

I've had this so many times in the NHS I've more or less given up trying to find work for the time being. The number of jobs I see on HSJ online where the closing date for applications is the day after the publication date beggars belief.

I once actually had an interviewer tell me that I'd somehow "sneaked through" so "I might as well go through with the next 40 minutes."

My favourite though, was an NHS trust (that's you, Blackpool) which gave the three candidates 20 minutes to read a 70 page internal document and then prepare a panel presentation. The punchline is that the internal guy had actually written the document. It then, unbelievably, got worse. At the end of the presentation, the interview panel directed all their questions straight to the internal candidate: "So, Steve, can you tell us about x?" and "Steve, could you just clarify y again?" The other two of us were totally superfluous to proceedings. This charade meant that a panel of eight (two Directors, three Associate Directors, and at least two 8Cs) spent an entire day each on this - and bemoaning their workloads into the bargain - instead of actually doing their jobs. I would have walked out, but had a morbid fascination to see just how truly offensive the whole thing could get, and besides which I was unemployed and desperate.

I get that some employers feel the need to go through the motions, while a few really do have open minds which results in a few surprises. But seriously, if you've got someone lined up surely you do the bare minimum - quick interview perhaps - rather than run through a whole assessment centre and making a point of needlessly consuming everyone's time.

I've interviewed loads over the years and I have seen lots of examples when internal candidates have got the jobs, but also examples of when external applicants have been appointed.

Internal candidates will have the advantage in that they know how the organisation works, so they understand internal processes and politics. The disadvantage is that they can't exaggerate their skills as the interviewer is likely to know how they perform.

I have worked with managers who are keen to recruit externally to bring in fresh blood and new perspectives. This is even when there are good internal candidates.

On the other hand, when jobs are just given to people (they'd have got it anyway), it causes a lot of resentment that no-one else is given the opportunity. There is generally more complaining about jobs not being advertised than a sham interview process.

I agree OP, I can't help but wonder how many of the job interviews I've done have been a total waste of my time, money and energy.

I also agree with BowBeau, the system of applying for X jobs per week just to please the jobcentre, irrespective of whether you aren't qualified doesnt help anyone.

I'm surprised about the 'doesn't have to be advertised claim'. I have been told this quite firmly since the mid 1990s. Like I said, defence against FOI requests.

I've had an occasional temp contract (duration < 12 weeks) that wasn't advertised, oh and a bit of consulting that I was invited to do. These involved HR jumping thru many hoops. Plenty of one-day jobs, too, phoned on the morning kind of thing.

It's testing the market - or at least it used to be. How do you know your internal candidate is the best one unless you compare them to others? I never really minded too much, all interviews are good for maintaining those skills.

I have lost track of the number of times this has happened to me. In teaching- I think it happens a lot when applying for assistant/deputy head ships and head of departments. It’s so demoralising. I don’t know what else to add, you know you shouldn’t get upset but when you’ve put in all that effort and travel it’s difficult to take it on the chin.

Civil service and local government are terrible for this sort of thing - I had to leave both because of nepotism and cliquey behaviour. Merit/ability often have precious little to do with jobs in government, with arse crawling and game playing being seen as the way to get ahead.

Still alive and well in the private sector in 2018. Generally secondments that are quietly made permanent (secondment not advertised either), contractors taken onto books, but blatant not advertising jobs goes on too. Seen a few new roles created specially for people - these cause most outrage as it's outright favouritism or palming off someone who's been screwed out of a job they really wanted and have kicked off.

Where I work jobs are first advertised internally if they think there is a strong enough field, then externally if there's no one suitable internally. Some externally advertised jobs go to internal people, but not all of them by any means.

This happens a lot in teaching 😞

If an interviewer was coaching a candidate then (in the nhs at least) this can be a gross misconduct issue and they can be fired.

I know of a senior manager (8c) who gave s house keeper (b3) the answers to the usual questions asked for an interview for a b4 job. The candidate stupidly turned up with the piece of paper with the answers to the interview and the manager was investigated and sacked.

Often though internal candidates get the jobs because theyre on the unit and know the insider knowledge or have the experience you could only get from already working here. However this is not always the case. I recently chose an external candidate over internal as they simply interviewed so much better and gave better answers. Nothings guarenteed

I completely agree with you. It’s horrible for everyone concerned. There is no legal requirement to do it. It’s perfectly reasonable to say X has been doing most of this job already and covered last year when Y had an operation. Having reviewed their performance we would like to off them the role. I mean, what better interview can you have! It also shows your actual job performance counts for something and that external candidates don’t get messed about.
I’ve recently lost out to an internal candidate who essentially was already doing the job and I was cheesed off that I’d paid for childcare, prepared, paid to travel when I clearly had no chance.

This has just happened to me.

Went for a visit/chat to the place before applying. 2 hours.
Completing the form. 3 hours.
Afterward off work for interview. With commute and time taken... 3 hours.

Made me wait over a week.
Finally got my 'we wish you luck' letter.
Found out job went internally - a friend of mine works there in a different dept and told found out that the person it went to had been lined up.

I'd like my 8 hours back.

@Manycats, that is so NHS