Husband failed interview for own job, panicking!

[UpsetAtInterview]

Name changed for this one. My husband has been on fixed term contracts for 4 years and interviews came up for permanent positions. He placed high in last years interviews and just missed out on a job, but the wait list ran out so there was a new round in interviews. He was in a pissy mood leading up to it, annoyed at having to re-interview again. He just found out he failed the interview. We're now facing a cliff edge financially as we can't get by on just my wage and his contract finishes in 6 weeks.

I'm so angry at him. I was the breadwinner until our first child turned two. Then he got this job and it was great, he doubled his salary just as the cost of living increase hit so we were okay. I worked so hard for years, I even did interviews heavily pregnant to get us in a good position financially and he's just thrown it all away because he couldn't get out of his own way and actually apply himself for a few days. He didn't take the prep seriously and was blindsided in the interview.

He's devastated, doesn't want to go back to work for last few weeks of his contract, doesn't want to complete his remaining projects. I am trying to comfort him and can see he's emotionally fragile but I just want to scream at him 'Why did you let us down? Why didn't you do the work to make sure your family is looked after?'. I wouldn't mind if he tried his best and it didn't work out, but he didn't. Am I unreasonable to be so angry? Should I tell him? Should I just try and help him get a new job first?

If he's worked for them for more than 2 years, how can this happen? I thought employment law protected temporary workers from this type of situation?
Is it worth contacting a union or citizens advice?

Get your DH to contact ACAS and explain his situation to them accurately.

Get ACAS to confirm his rights as regards 4 years continuous fixed term contracts. This normally entitles him to permanent employment. For this he needs to write to the recruiter for the post he was rejected for and state that he believes he has the right to permanent employment.

what has he got to lose?

Thank you for the kind and constructive response. I am a little better, he wallowed for a few days but is now taking about approaching recruiters and investigating the potential of a 4 year contract becoming permanent.

He's looking at his CV and thinking about what jobs he can apply for if his contract ends. Even though he wasn't successful, it could be months before they posts are filled. So now the shock had worn off, we're thankfully not facing financial ruin at the end of the month.

The bright side is the civil service is shit pay. My own mother was a civil servant who got pissed off and went triple her salary elsewhere. He needs to start looking for other jobs today.

He would have known. Civil service interviews follow specific formats with information available up front about what’s being tested.

But no, this is categorically not allowed and not done beyond information that goes to all candidates.

This
Yeah he maybes should have applied himself more BUT its time to be a supportive partner surely?

Been in this position before, he may seem like he was pissy before the interview and to be fair he was entitled to be, as it seems they really are not interested in hiring him permanently and just filling the role until someone more to their taste comes in, and your partner deep down knows this. I can assure you now if they really wanted him permanently the interview would have just been a tick box exercise as they need to show they are following legislation by interviewing. He needs to leave or be an expendable asset.

I suspect much of the interview process is about attitude and resilience rather than aptitude. I once got offered a job because the preferred candidate hadn't done any real prep for the job. They left the organisation shortly after and I took on their role as part of mine! It may be that they wanted to see how candidates would work under this type of pressure and irritation.

You just need to focus onward and upward. These things happen. My DH did the same in his interview for Medical School... And I think it was actually the best "mistake" he ever made.

Put yourself in his position. He must feel.pretty awful at the moment. Now is the time for encouragement, not losing your rag with him.

Some very odd responses here presumably from people who don’t work or have been in the same job for a very long time.

The civil service interview process for permanent jobs is in place to ensure there is a standard procedure for giving roles to avoid any claims of nepotism or discrimination. Most large organisations run a STAR question system and provide guidance on what type of questions will be asked. If you choose not to use that information to prepare, then even if you are doing the role currently you are unlikely to do a great interview unless you’re incredibly good at thinking on your feet. I do have to say I would be annoyed at DH for choosing not to use the resources available to prep, it wouldn’t have taken him long as you can use the same example for multiple questions.

No one deserves a position simply for length of service- although I can’t comment on the legal aspects of that. I know in my previous role in a large organisation, for temporary staff we would often put up with “good enough “ to do the job as it desperately needed done, and then of course once the person had done their security checks, initial training and were on the books, even if they weren’t amazing it was a lot easier than getting a new person in.
However permanent staff are a different business, not least because you actually have to performance manage them. Absolutely no manager ever wants to take someone on if there is a whiff that they might ever need to put them on a performance plan because it’s a massive drain on time and rarely leads to a good outcome, therefore they will be a lot choosier.

Ultimately what has happened is done. At least he is focusing on getting his cv up to date.

I don't understand your comment, "people who don’t work or have been in the same job for a very long time"? What is the relevance of that?

This. I don't think they wanted him.

It is regarding the comments that it’s unfair that he has to interview for the role and it’s all the mean nasty companies fault.
That's the process these days in most large companies and it seems weird to me to take issue with it.

I don’t think you are unreasonable to be pissed off at all OP.

Your DH isn’t a single man, he has a family to take care of, and his failure to prepare and buck up his attitude has had an awful consequence for the family’s finances.

Currently in a similar situation, although i’m stuck on maternity leave with an 9 week old, and self employed so I can’t do a great deal. DH royally messed up his very cushy job, taking the piss with not going into the office and turning down a managerial role as he thought it was beneath him and prefers to ‘do’ rather than ‘manage’, he always said they need him too much to get rid of him when I questioned his work attitude the past few months. They made him redundant at the start of April, and kept everyone in his team minus him.

I am beyond pissed. DH knows im pissed, although i am being supportive. He also messed up his first interview for a new job by saying it’ll ‘be easy’ as its ‘low paid’…. so he did no prep. he didnt get it. Hes had one more interview and through to the final HR stage and is pretty much in the bag, his attitude has changed alot and he did a lot of prep for it. It sounds like my DH thought he was invincible like yours did.

To say its frustrating is an understatement when you can see your DH not taking something seriously which directly impacts your family in a major way. It adds so much more unnecessary stress.

Hopefully onwards and upwards for you from here now he is working on his CV etc x

"That's the process these days in most large companies and it seems weird to me to take issue with it."

"That's the process" doesn't make it right.
The fact remains that he was clearly able to do the job.

I fundamentally disagree with it - people shouldn't have to be interviewed for a job they are already doing, particularly when they have accrued full employment rights, unless it was clearly a temporary role.

I'm not sure that it's as standard practice as you're making it out to be.

In the civil service we have something called ‘fair and open competition’. You can’t just hand someone a permanent job.

I never said you could.

You literally said “people shouldn't have to be interviewed for a job they are already doing”

To make it permanent when it wasn’t originally, that’s what has to happen.

I meant in specific circumstances. That's why I referred to "temporary".

I was made redundant sacked a few weeks ago. Yes, it is stressful, of course - but my blood pressure is actually down rather than up.

I learned this week that a school friend (I'm over 50) has just died.

Whilst I don't have a huge financial cushion - I am re-appraising what I actually need from the world of work.

I wish the OP and family all the best at this tricky time

It might be worth him consulting an employment-specialist solicitor to investigate his rights / possible steps

Unless someone does an absolutely awful job in an interview (and your DH has done this interview well before) I think unfortunately the interviewers knew who they wanted and marked accordingly. This happens even with public sector interviews. Has he been arrogant/ difficult at work too?

It's absolutely standard practice in any public funded organisation. And there is no confirmation he has any employment rights. You can be 90 percent certain he doesn't as the Civil Service deal with this situation continually, but do sometimes get it wrong, but not often.

Please do not patronise me - I have worked in the public sector for well over 30 years and I am a professionally qualified HR expert!

Which is why I have suggested that the OP's DH needs to get proper advice on his exact employment status, because we don't know enough here to make a determination!

It hasn't been "standard practice" until very recently in my organisation, and we employ 44,000 staff!