To put this question into context a bit, i’ll tell you my recent career history. At the beginning of 2019 I was in a job I loved, but due to brexit affecting the company’s funding, my contract was not renewed. I took a maternity cover position in another department who organise large events as a temporary solution: however, when COVID19 struck it was left to me, someone with zero experience, to move the events online in a short space of time with no training, experience or support, which was so stressful I was in tears daily. By the time the person I was covering came back, I was totally burned out. I then took what I thought would be a good permanent role; however, it turned out to be completely misadvertised (it was not remote working as advertised, it involved working on a construction site, and my boss was, to put it plainly, an asshole - who, amongst other things, put my physical safety at risk numerous times - leading me to quit after only 6 months, which is something i’ve never done before).
But then, something amazing happened. Someone sent me an advert for the job of my dreams saying ‘you’d be perfect for this’. And I got the job! It was working at a university close to my friends and partner and my boss is totally supportive and a good leader. I’ve worked there since June 2021.
We are a small team of 3 core members: as well as my boss, I have a colleague who does all the admin and finance side of things - we’ll call her Tracy. Tracy hates her job, and working in the university sector, and doesn’t care who knows it. She’s deeply unprofessional and lazy (spends a lot of her day watching streaming tv in the office) and I actually have strong suspicions she is sleeping with a student. She walked out of a staff meeting in December, handed in her 3 months’ notice along with a sick note, and has been on rolling sick ever since. I do not think she will come back. I’m sort of relieved to see the back of her, although it has meant I have to cover both our full time jobs, which is a stress i could do without (especially because i have no training in admin/finance).
Of course, this means that Tracy’s job will soon be advertised. Tracy’s job pays surprisingly well, far more than the average for a junior admin role, despite not requiring many prerequisites (no degree or special certifications etc). The reason for this is we need a specific type of very energetic, organised and outgoing person in the role as it involves making connections with business partners etc.
I told a friend, we’ll call her Kelly, about all of this. Kelly suddenly springs up and says ‘I’d be interested in applying to that - you’ll help me get the job, right?’
I know this sounds horrible, but I really don’t want Kelly in this job. She is not the right person for it and after all of the stress and drama in my worklife in the last few years, I just want a safe, stable pair of hands that I can rely on. I know full well the only thing that Kelly cares about in this job is the good salary: when I saw her at the weekend and tried to explain to her a little bit about an important part of the job i’m doing this week (this would be her role if she got the job), she literally walked off in the middle of me speaking. Kelly has never had a job for very long because she’s… kinda good at alienating people. She once worked for her own brother but that ended with them not on speaking terms because she expected him to make more allowances at work for her since she’s family, and she felt extremely betrayed when he didn’t. She can be very funny as a friend, but as a colleague, I honestly believe she’d be a nightmare. She’s also a registered (mature) student at the university so I have no idea how that would even work, since it’s a full time role and a full time degree. She’s in the final year so I also doubt she’d want to stay in the role after graduation.
But I can’t stop her applying can I? And if she gets through to interview, can I even legally blacklist her to the panel? I know she does interview really well, as she has the gift of the gab, so I’m worried. I really wish i’d just kept my mouth shut about the whole thing 😩
Any advice is welcome!