Internal job interview

[JH20000]

I applied for an internal role which would be a step up. I hit most of the essential and desirable criteria and thought I’d be in for a good chance of interview.

Two months go by and I hear nothing. Thought they’ve obviously gone with someone else and whilst annoyed I didn’t receive a rejection I didn’t let it ruin my day.

Last Wednesday I received a call from HR that they wanted to interview me, that the position was open, they thought I was a good candidate. I spent all weekend prepping.

Interview at 9am this morning, thankfully online. As soon as the interview starts they then tell me that the position has gone to someone else, then start telling me about how amazing this candidate was, how strong their skill set was, etc etc etc. They then drop in that it was all done and dusted weeks ago. The person in HR who called me about it wasn’t present but their colleague was.

I asked why I was invited to interview then and they say it was to let me know of the situation. That’s it, all over within ten minutes.

AIBU to start brushing up my CV to move on to another company? I’m really shocked at it to be honest.

WTF? What a shit show this turned into.
Sorry, such a waste of your time and energy.
I mean if you’re okay where you are and don’t have a desperate need to get out asap it’s worth keeping your cv up to date (although I don’t know, depending on your sector CV’s don’t always seem to be required these days. I know when I applied for my job there was a specific note in bold that said please don’t send a CV!).

I have to say that this may be one of the most unprofessional actions I've heard coming out of HR staff. So, yes, work on your resume and seek employment at a company with a better HR department, as other problems are likely to occur.

You do NOT waste someone's time in this way . . . and it sounds like the staff and their leader are highly unqualified for the work they do.

Thanks, I wasn’t sure if at first there was some miscommunication between people but I’ve spent the last hour seething about it.

My plan was to always move at some point, but then saw the internal vacancy and thought why not? This might just be the push for me to start applying for new roles elsewhere.

It should be the "push." A company operating with such a flawed HR department will have other problems, and though you may have been lucky to avoid those until now, at some point the law of averages will probably cause you to have other issues, and especially if there is any growth in the number of employees, or the industry you are in experiences the opposite of growth, and they need to layoff employees.

Some people describe the HR department as a mirror to the health and happiness of the company overall. This experience should alarm you about the state of the company.

I'd make a formal complaint and start job hunting.

I would just use this as the push to start aggressively job hunting. I wouldn’t put in a complaint, nothing will come of it and it will just tip them off that you are looking to leave.