Didn’t get job

[tiredsotired6]

I’ve been working as a temp for one company for over a year. They’ve been very happy with my work, giving me a lot of good feedback. A few people (including the manager) have said they would really like me to be on permanent staff as I do a great job.

Anyway, a few months ago a perm role came up, which was essentially my role to the letter. Having had the good feedback I decided to apply as felt I had a very good chance.

As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, I didn’t get the job. I’m now feeling like my confidence has been shot and my manager was just leading me on.

The new person has now started and seems fine but no better than me at the job. Worse still, I’ve been asked to help them out if they have any questions about how to do the job that I’ve been doing for over a year.

The result is that a job I used to look forward to every day has now left me feeling deflated and upset. I now dread work and generally just feel my confidence has been shattered.

AIBU and WWYD?

Utter nonsense. If a temp staff member has applied for a permanent role then they clearly want a permanent position. And all the rest of your point is applicable to everybody, and should not be used as a yardstick for temp employees.

God some people really like to lord what little power they have over others.

I think you’ve missed the point.
That’s why they have to be interviewed. ‘Being good at the job’ is not all it takes to be an appropriate permanent hire. But it’s all you need from a temp.

How about understanding the fact that it’s just a job and people should just be able to do a good job and go home rather than being expected to provide entertainment value and constantly prove their “dedication”.

Give me solid workers who do a good job over bloviating personality hires who can talk well but have no substance. Spoken from experience I’m afraid.

I was in a similar situation many years ago. I waited until the team was really short staffed and gave them a weeks notice, telling them I'd been offered more to temp somewhere else (not strictly true). They gave me a significant payrise to stay on, which I accepted, until I found a permanent job elsewhere.

Yep. You have missed the point.
Never mind.

You said they found and issue, so they other person didn’t have that issue hence they were chosen over you. Rubbish you have to train them, look for another job and get out as soon as you can.

I really haven’t. I just don’t agree with hiring managers expecting the moon on a stick and making grown adults jump through hoops like performing seals.

Two people are interviewed.
Both have good CVs and would be good at the job based on their strengths and experience.
One answers questions more thoroughly than the other at interview and describes how they would fulfil the role. (No hoops to jump through just questions to answer).
That person is offered the job.
In this instance that person was external.

I completely understand why you are feeling the way you do. And agree it's probably time to sort your CV and look around.

But it might help you to depersonalise the process a little. It sounds like they do appreciate your work and think you've performed well. There's no reason to suspect the encouragement for you to apply was anything less than genuine. But I'm sure they also have to advertise the job externally. My guess would be that the person who got the job has some experience that means they can enhance or develop the role.

You are spot on! I don’t like the fakeness and game-playing of the contemporary world and I’ve seen more than one disastrous appointment where the manager who’d interviewed shrugged and said “But they interviewed really well!”

Well, yes- they’d learned to play the game, as you imply, and practised answering the all-too-predictable questions.

The common interview questions now seem to me to have been AI-generated. They are uninspiring and sometimes hard to relate to the job description.

The wish for candidates to demonstrate passion (hope that’s now gone) is particularly weird.

I know how an interview works.

Did you read the OP’s posts where part of the feedback they gave her referred to something she needed to improve when doing the role that had never been mentioned before? So the interview panel did not themselves stick to the actual point of an interview, but used it as an opportunity to provide feedback on the OP’s ability to do her role. They gave her feedback outside of her responses to the interview questions, which is poor and unprofessional. The process was used as an interview for the external candidate and an appraisal for the internal candidate. She was clearly never going to be given the job before she even started the interview.

Also, a lot of my comments led on from a poster who claimed that they had an excellent temp team member who would just fall apart in interviews, and they provided coaching, helped as much as they could etc but she didn’t get any of the many roles she applied for (despite being excellent). Which is incredibly cruel behaviour as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure the constant singling out and public humiliation really didn’t help her nerves.

So basically, if you’re crap at interviews because you’re introverted, anxious, nervous about them but in reality you’re a reliable, diligent and hard worker, fuck off and live on a park bench, you loser.

Who would you be crap at interviews because you’re introverted? Introverted people get hired every day of the week. Interviews aren’t as hard as you’ve built them up to be

They are when you have an anxiety about talking in a contrived situation. I’ve worked for thirty years (without the star method) but I can’t seem to pass this interview system. Maybe it’s my age, my work life is more behind me than in front. I need a job for one reason only and that is to pay my bills. You will get all the motivation and reliability you need from me, not because I’m passionate or ambitious but because I can’t afford to be late or take sickies or do a bad job, they are pretty strong motivators to give a hundred per cent, but how would you view someone who said that in an interview instead?. Badly I expect. I’m half thinking I’ll probably never get a job again as I can’t seem to get a grasp of this type of interview style, I just want to say cut the crap, it’s a part time admin job and you can see from my CV I have a good employment history. The last interview I had, before I knew whether I got the job (I didn’t) I swore I wouldn’t put myself through that again and it was just for a part time receptionist (2 days a week). I used to work for TV directors and Journalists and Architects and Solicitors, I’ve worked in TV and a Record Company (back in the 80s/90s before being a sahm) and all for what, I can't even get a job in a supermarket now.

The passion aspect for every single bloody job is utterly pathetic. I’ve seen ads for cafes wanting you to be passionate about food and drink (then I’d be a chef or one of those Youtubers who eat a mountain of food, not work in a cafe!) and cleaners to be passionate about cleaning, why not just ask for diligent people?

What have you tried to try and improve your interview skill? I assumed you were stubbornly refusing to adapt but now you seem to be saying you actually want to find a way to tick the boxes and get a job through interview?

I’m a very unstubborn person. I’m someone though where ‘visualisation’ or rehearsing something in my head ends in disaster. I am much better at natural, more organic interactions, I’m pretty good at those as I’m a very friendly and chatty person. I knew they would ask me the question as I had been taken by surprise on my previous interview and googled why I was being asked these questions. I had an idea about what I would say but it all just ended up as garbled nonsense, my brain going quicker than my mouth, or maybe the other way round 🤷‍♀️ It started off ok then I lost where I was in my not spontaneous response, I sort of lost the thread of what I was going to say. I felt like saying, look I can do the job, I’ll do a good job, I’m just not relaxed enough when I’m anticipating these questions and going over what I practised.

I’m only looking for a job for the money and as an empty nester I don't want to be isolated at home every day. I’m looking for a job not a career.

I have looked at a couple of jobs on Indeed then didn’t go through with pressing the apply button because I can’t think of a ‘challenge I overcame’ professionally (too long ago to remember) and they won’t want to hear personal ones or it could turn into a therapy session. And I know I’ll inwardly sigh when they ask where I see myself in five years. So I take my finger away from that apply button.