To be really really annoyed at River Island's treatment of my daughter at interview

[BadHairDyeDay]

DD17 applied for a job with RI - 8 hour contract evenings and Saturdays and would fit around school no problem. On Thursday she an email asking her to attend a "recruitment event" yesterday morning at 9.30 and to bring "proof of eligibility to work in the UK". Excellent so far.
So yesterday morning DD gets her National insurance number letter and I drop her off for the interview. As I'm walking back to the car I get a phone call from DD to say she needs either her birth certificate or her passport. I ask her what for. She says she was supposed to bring either one. I said no it was proof of eligibility to work in the UK, I.e. National insurance number. Birth certificate = proof of identity. Passport = eligibility to travel outside your own country. That was problem no 1 . Anyway RI had said she could come back at 10.30 with said documents and have interview then. So I made the half hour round trip home to fetch BC.
All fine then. But no. Problem no.2. At the end of the interview DD is asked when she can work (which she had set out in detail in her application form and was the same as the advertised position). So she tells them again and they say "Oh so you can't work XX?". DD says no. They say not at all? DD says sorry no it was in my application form and I didn't think I had to! End of interview!

So AIBU to be raging that they didn't ask for the documents they actually wanted at interview and also that we completely wasted a whole morning due to the fact that they didn't read my DD's application form properly and changed the criteria at the last minute anyway!!!!!
I have a good mind to complain to head office because that's is just plain incompetence - and in their eyes my DD looks like she is in the wrong!!!

P.S Sorry this is so long!!!

DS applied for a part time job with MacDonalds; he filled in the form with the days and times he was able to work (was still at school); went to an interview, was called back for a second interview then a trial shift. They offered him the job, and gave him a list of shifts, there wasn't one shift he could do. When he pointed out that he had listed all the times he could work on the application, they essentially blamed him.

nonamehere when DD turned 18 she applied for a provisional licence so she had ID for buying alcohol, even though she has no intention of learning to drive for a few years.

We do have ID. Most people have a birth certificate.

I know there are the free men if the land that dont register their children. This is exactly why they should.

Employers need to be wholly specific in their instructions regarding what documentation is required.

I would absolutely give them feedback

I’d be amazed if there wasn’t a list of acceptable documents in the interview letter/email. I ‘be never been for a job with a major employer that didn’t spell it out.

You need to back off and let DD sort her own stuff out. She is 17 with no experience, she will need to have a more humble attitude as employers have plenty of choice. There is a bit of a learning curve and employers are not always well organised /completely fair. This applies even for professional jobs too.
Mum complaining to hr because of a slight misunderstanding is clearly ludicrous! Encouraging DD to think some great wrong has been committed is nearly as bad.

If she received any kind of written/emailed/online instructions about the interview, I guarantee they said or linked to what was valid proof of right to work. They are a huge company who recruit constantly. It's OP who seems to have told her daughter that Nat Ins details were sufficient off her own back. OP "giving them feedback", especially since she is not a relevant party to the recruitment process, will just make her look like an idiot.

Everybody and their dog knows proof of eligibility to work in the UK means birth certificate or passport. Preferably both.

No they don't [hmm}
I didn't until last year, but I have been in continuous employment with the same company for many years, and have never needed to know this information until then.

They should have specified documents that were acceptable. Every job I've applied for has been specific. That's fairly rubbish hr for such a massive company, you'd have imagined they'd have a standard what to bring to interview type blurb.

Offering one set of hours evening weekend and then wanting another presumably weekday daytime will rule out a lot of applicants so that seems silly as well.

However, you are totally unreasonable to be 'raging'. Stuff like this happens all the time, that's life I'm afraid. Chalk it up to experience and move on. Next time, take passport.

Why would YOU complain to head office? It wasn't your interview.
Nothing worse than an interfering parent.

I had to prove my right to work when applying for a promotion/new role In the organisation I'd already been working for for 20 years.

Actually, I'm surprised they accept BC as being born here hasn't made you automatically British since 1983. But possibly having lived here since birth and now being 16+ means you've almost certainly got ILR even without formal proof of the same?

OP - there's also a website I used called glassdoor where previous applicants write what the interview was like, what sorts of questions were asked etc. It was really helpful to prepare answers beforehand.

I've seen jobs advertised for a few contracted hours (in one case 0 hours) but needs to be fully flexible including evenings and weekends. I can only presume people lie in the interview, such a set up is unfeasible and unethical. I can't help but feel expecting someone to be fully flexible for an 8 hour contract (if that's what they asked) is similarly crap.

Actually, I'm surprised they accept BC as being born here hasn't made you automatically British since 1983.

That's actually really good point. Plus isn't it really easy to forge?

Yabu about proof of work but Yanbu about the company not reading applications. If NI Card was sufficient, you'd have your wages paid into the account of the NI holder and they would transfer your wages minus a cut to you- easy fraud.
I have a ds who's 18 and he's been to more than one interview which ended when the interviewer discovered that he was 17. It's a big fat waste of time (and cost) for both parties.
About the hours- is it a Saturday or Sunday that she can't work? Retail expects students on 8 hour contracts to be very flexible with weekend and peak time availability (Black Friday, Xmas Eve..) a must.

It doesn't matter which documents they want to see-that is a diversion. What matters is that their invitation is clear about what they require. They are utterly unreasonable to screen her out because she is unable to offer what they were clearly not asking for. Another example of incompetence in HR, and poorly trained line managers.

So, to be clear, YANBU.

Please don’t complain on her behalf. If she feels like complaining let her do it.

I need to prove my eligibility to work in the uk every so often - even though I have been with the same employer for years. Everyone does. I don’t have a passport, and I’m not the only employee to not have one. Lots of people in the country do not have passports. I use my birth certificate for I D.

YABU - at 17 she’s old enough to complain to them herself but I suggest she doesn’t, and instead uses her time and energy to find a job. And she needs to think about being flexible, it’ll be tricky for her to get a job that completely suits just what she wants to do particularly with no work experience.

The government has cracked down on illegal workers, I can’t think of a large employer now who doesn’t want a passport or similar ID to prove eligibility- they face massive fines for unwittingly hiring people who don’t have the right to work in the Uk

"I need to prove my eligibility to work in the uk every so often - even though I have been with the same employer for years. Everyone does."

I have been with where I work for 15 years and have never been asked. They are shit hot at checking these things as well.

@isabellerossignol well the jobs I mentioned in my previous post were for M&S, WH Smith, Waterstones and Wilkinsons so big companies and not one of them asked for proof of address or passport, birth certificate etc.

I didn't even know people born here had to prove they can work here until I applied for a job in 2016.

Treat it as interview experience and know what to expect next time

Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.
Nothing more mortifying all-round than a parent dealing with employers on behalf of their offspring. Don’t do it. Chalk it up to experience.

It's perfectly reasonable of an employer to expect applicants to demonstrate the common sense required to find basic, publicly available, information for themselves.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/774286/RightttoWorkkChecklist.pdf

Your insistence that NI should have been fine, in the face of actual facts, is bizarre and is doing your DD no favours.