To be upset about having to interview for my own job again

[Maz745]

I've been qualified in my role for 15 years and have worked at the same company my whole working life. I always worked full time, until two years ago when I decided to go part time (working 3 days a week) after the birth of my daughter.

I am now ready to start working full time again but have been told that in order to increase my hours, I need to interview for my role again. I feel this is unfair as wasn't the 13 years of full time work evidence enough of my competency in the role? Over the years of being part time, I've also occasionally come in when they're short staffed to help out on my non working days, so this just feels like another kick in the teeth. Is this the norm?

Sounds like bullshit. ‘So why do you want the role’ ‘what can you bring to the role’ ‘any questions’ like what are they gonna ask you to prove? are they interviewing others for the role? If you don’t get it they can’t exactly sack you can they.

Sounds like something the civil service would do. I’d expect better of the private sector.

Is it because they are essentially having to get a new job role signed off? They can’t just magic another 15 or 20 hours from somewhere because you now want to go full time- so they are having to create a new role, if they do that then many places have rules around “fair and open recruitment” to mean that the chance for that job is fairly available to all who are interested?

Probably this tbh, are they advertising it or are just you interviewing?

Never heard of that and have increased and decreased my hours loads of times over decades so over working for an NHS Trust.
Different if it's a higher grade post you're applying for but not if it's exactly the same post but increasing hours.
Sounds ridiculous OP.

I think it depends really- what reason have they given for this? Is it that they are adding a full time role and this is going to be advertised to get the best candidate (as in, you will still have your job whether you get the FT job or not) or are they only going to have you in post, the only decision is whether as part-time or full-time? Is it possible they are looking to increase hours but there is more than one person who wants these additional hours/they might decide to make 2 part-time posts or something?

If it’s that they are adding an extra post (full or part-time), I think it reasonable- you can’t just decide that a post is yours because you did your current job full-time before choosing to be part-time. The company may have a policy regarding advertising new posts, for example, or may want to see who else is available.

If it’s the case that the decision is between your current hours vs you doing full time hours it does seem odd. Are they looking for you to justify the additional hours, perhaps? Not sure why they’d interview you for that as opposed to ask you to submit a proposal justifying why they now need full-time when they’ve managed with part-time for the last 3 years, but it’s the only thing I can think of if they aren’t going to interview anyone else/aren’t looking to give anyone else additional hours.

Very different and yet has a flavour of a re-interview I had to do earlier this year. Originally interviewed for a short-term locum post 2 days a week. It then became clear that the 2nd half of the job period they had a full-time vacancy, and 2 of us from the first interviews were approached to see if we would like to cover it as a job share. I agreed to 3 days a week to make that work, we chose a slot in the rota and all was progressing. Until I get told the 3 day a week job has to be formally advertised for at least 1 day and can I submit a new application..
(some complexities of the situation removed for clarity!!)

I hope you get it sorted without too much trauma!

I think it’s daft. I have worked in the public sector and decreased to part time after having my children and some years later increased to full time, without needing to be re-interviewed.

in answer to, is this the norm, I have never heard of this happening before.

(Oh and all that recruitment effort was for only a few months' work)

When you went part time, did your seniority, responsibilities, or number of people reporting to you change / reduce? I have interviewed for the role I have been in a few times in restructuring situations and that wasn’t nice. Once I was taken aside confidentially and told I would be ok (that wouldn’t happen now) but that also felt difficult as my colleague then had to find a new role. Also, if we act up the permanent role must be advertised for fair and open completion so sometimes people don’t get appointed to a job they have been covering and need to drop down to their previous role (if available) or look for something new.

When I returned to full time, my manager knew my intentions from our regular career discussions and asked me if the time was right for me as she had some additional staffing budget and didn’t want to make decisions without giving me first dibs, I said yes and my contract was changed from the next day.

It depends. If this is part of an ongoing conversation about increasing your hours and updating your contract then yes it's daft.

If its a case that there is now a full time vacancy posted that you have applied for so you can increase your hours then of course they need to interview all candidates.

It is not unreasonable to be upset after 15 years and continuing service. I would be shocked and dismayed by that. Others have suggested reasons why it could be necessary to be interviewed. You could ask for more information from HR or look up a manual of your employer's policies and procedures to see if it sheds more light.

The question that arises in my mind is about the right to return to work in the same job or work conditions after maternity leave and a right for a returnee to ask for flexible working, which it appears you have done in going part time for a couple of years, but in these circumstances would there be a subsisting right to then resume your previously full-time hours in the same job - assuming it is the same?

It would be worth asking the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service - ACAS. This is their field of expertise and it's a free advice line for employees or employers.

I work in Further Education and this is pretty standard. You know that if you decrease to for example 0.5 that they won't automatically increase to full time. They simply might not have the hours, have other people who are now wanting more hours etc. So, yes it would quite possibly be interviewed internally. 15 year service really wouldn't count.