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?

It doesn't sound like a toxic environment to me - they're operating a fair selection recruitment process, which means treating everyone equally (ie interviews) rather than giving jobs to people who already have a foot in the door.

I don't think using the word "failed" is helpful. It's quite acceptable to have an unsuccessful interview that was also a great interview with positive feedback just not as good as the others, unless he was rude to them or answered really poorly I don't think "failed" is useful as lots of people have applied for jobs and not got them, it is part of the course.

Is there anyway they will give him a new short contract or can start looking now?

Employment law still applies. If he has more than 4 years service he is entitled (in most circs) to be made permanent. If there is no work for him, he is entitled to be consulted with and put at risk if redundancy and helped to find another suitable job within the department/CS.

I’ve been in HR for a very long time, including CS and NHS and I’m struggling to understand this system you describe where they all keep competing for the same jobs.

You are allowed to be angry frightened and scared but I’d guess he is as well.
let it out scream shout on here and then be calm and focused and try to work as a team to resolve the issue rather than you do X or Y - he knows , and I would guess he’s shocked scared and angry with himself.

take care of you

I don't see how it's fair to do a job for years and then have to repeatedly reinterview for said job and have your job given to someone else who can do a good interview. Based on an hour's snapshot versus demonstrating history of doing the job. Not fair at all I don't think.

My friend was a teacher who had to endure this BS for years. Finally got a permanent contract and now they've acadamised and been told her job is at risk of redundancy!

Modern world is poo.

I don't want 'failed' to be misinterpreted here, it's not a value judgment. The interviews were pass or fail. If you passed you got on the wait list for permanent positions and if you failed you didn't get on the wait list. He failed the interview so didn't get on the wait list and had no hope of a permanent position and his role will be given to a successful candidate on the waitlist.

It sounds like he was set up to fail, is he a union member and has he taken their advice.

They can’t do this if he has permanent employment rights though. Why aren’t you listening?

He needs to talk to ACAS and his union if he’s in one.

Similar situation, so I get the frustration. All you can do is deal with the current situation. The best thing for your DH to do is take advantage of any careers services, CV advice etc available from his employer while he still can, and do any online training especially if you get a certificate. I'd be spending my next few weeks in employment prioritising this, but still focus on the job enough so as not to burn any bridges.

The person who got 2nd on the list is in his team and this is their 6th interview for a permanent position.

it sounds like quite a difficult interview process and last time even when he prepared he still missed out. I think you’re both being dramatic, him with the sulking and you with the why have you failed the family feelings. Missing out on job interviews sucks, but there’s no guarantee even if he’d prepared for months. There are other jobs, he needs to go and apply for things. There’s no point both angrily dwelling on the what ifs.

So interviews didn't come up for permanent positions as stated in OP. Interviews came up for the chance to "win" a permanent position.

Hepassed the same interviews in the past but didn't get the permanent positions then.

So the likelihood here is he'd be kicking the can down the road. I suspect had he passed he still wouldn't have got a permanent position and would have to reinterview again and again in the future.

That must be stressful and is really unfair to someone who has given the best of themselves for so many years to an employer.

A PP mentioned it's good the jobs don't go to someone who already had a foot in the door. Why? Surely loyalty and longevity of service should count for something against Joe Bloggs walking in off the street. Surely it's less risky for an empolyer to keep on someone who is a proven performer vs someone that talks the talk in the interview but might not deliver on that promise.

To all of those people who think being on FTC for four years is outrageous, you might not be thinking outside of your own sectors and experience. In my sector everyone is on FTC because that’s the way the funding goes. No failure on anyone’s part.

Im a CS and unfortunately, I've been on interview panels many many times, where internal staff going for promotions or FTC staff applying for perm roles assume they will be able to do the interview on the basis that they are doing the job, when it's very well known that CS interviews are about demonstrating the behaviours and examples to score highly. Then unfortunately, they just dont give us the depth of answers that we need to score them the top marks. If he's in a profession, he should get on CS jobs and start applying for similar roles in other government departments. He could look at the next grade down as well (if that works for you as a family financially) to get a perm foot in the door and then work his way back up. He should also ask someone more senior that he gets on with to work through his examples for each behaviour with him, and then keep those somewhere safe for future interviews.

But I also agree with getting some advice on whether everything has been done properly. I'm not in HR so I'm not familiar with that side of things.

I work in the civil service and have been on a temporary promotion since 2022, I have to re-interview for my role every year and it’s really tough. I can see how your husband could have reached his limit with the constant insecurity and rejection.

I also applied for my own job in the NHS years ago and didn’t get it which has impacted on my confidence ever since so, as frustrating as it is, I wouldn’t be too hard on him. It’s a horrible feeling being competent at your job but unable to perform in the correct way to be appointed permanently. The public sector has a very rigid recruitment system which doesn’t suit everyone.

He needs to just get back out there and look for something else. If he’s employed directly, he should be entitled to redundancy and potentially redeployment at least?

Not necessarily...they could be brilliant at doing the job but if there are 10 excellent candidates and 1 job, 9 excellent candidates get disappointed.

And it can be for reasons other than job performance.

It is not as cut and dry as being on a fixed term contract for a long time, you must be made permanent. In public and civil service, FTCs are quite common due to budget management.

That being said, he has the right to be treated as a permanent employee and should be entitled to redundancy. In the civil service it’s pretty generous (usually 1 month for every year).

I think you're being really unreasonable and it would be horrible to tell him. It sounds like a stressful process, and I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose. You need to support him and believe in him, not tell him that he's let you down. He already feels terrible, you will only make it worse. Hopefully he can find a more secure job soon.

What sort of marginal things? Genuinely interested.

I'm sorry op. It's shit out here. I finished an 18 month public service contract last year, got extended plus glowing reviews. End of contract - I'm dead to them. Nothing personal. No hard feelings.

But he needs to get over this.

Anything more than a year and you do start to feel you work there. But you don't. You're a temp. False sense of security plus complacency is dangerous.

He absolutely must go back and finish his contract. This is reputational. It could affect his chances of another role.

He needs to get over the shock, disappointment and, I'm willing to bet, the shame.

He has to climb up fast.

You need to support that, not talk of failure or indulge your anger at him. That's going to be hard on you.

You have a full time job - brilliant. You also have children and a home to look after. He can step up there.

He needs to revisit his CV, get it bang up to date, polish his LinkedIn and start leveraging his network like mad. Treat jobseeking as a full time unpaid job.

And as this gap gets bigger, to be seen to be doing things to fill it in the CV. One thing recruiters can't bear is a gap. So consultancy, research, writing a book, short-short contracts etc. My year long gap has a lot of interesting short term things on it right now. I am not unemployed. I am currently between contracts.

You both gave had a shock. Now you both need to get over yourselves and support each other and work to the future. All the best.

The difficult with the CS is the job description could literally be ‘this is notmydayjob’s job and no one else can possibly get it’ and you could still not be the successful candidate. Experience questions are starting to get some weighting but you still need to get a high enough score on the behaviours and other aspects. It’s no criticism of someone that another candidate was just better at answering those questions.

He really should speak to ACAS though to least understand his situation if he has been continuously employed in FTC for over four years, knowledge is power and all that.

Right but presumably if you fail to get the temporary promotion you just go back to your substantive grade, you’re not out of a job altogether.

"it's not a value judgment" of course it is @UpsetAtInterview

Employers have an agenda.

If you are actually suggesting that your husband, deliberately, sabotaged his interview then the underlying dynamic within your marriage, is more than this?

What do you think?

Yes, definitely look into this.

We had a new chief executive in a charity. He had interviews for all senior employees at HO and other divisions. We lost some very good people as well as the dross. It was chaos for a good while.

I'm sorry these short contracts are awful, our own council only have 12 month ones which hardly inspires loyalty.

Your husband just needs to take a breather over Easter and start looking for another job. It's not him but the system.