To think this was unfair, and to take time off for mental health.

[Dawnchorus1]

I work in the civil service, and after returning from mat leave was given the choice of returning to my current job full time or taking a demotion if I wanted to do 3 or 4 days.

I took the demotion. This was nearly 5 years ago. I've contributed fully and enthusiastically in my role and been successful in working on big projects and having my ideas taken forward consistently (we work in an environment where most projects have a few people creating initial ideas which the clients then chose from). This despite being managed by 'replacement', being a single parent to my son, having little family support and having lost my mum suddenly last year, and have been working very hard at keeping my shit together.

We've gone through a restructure recently which has been horrendous for most involved and taken it's toll (multiple applications to apply for our own jobs etc). I kept my job luckily. Then a position opened up for my previous role. My son being at school now I thought it would be a good time to get my career back on track - up my hours and resume previous role.

So put in application. Got interview. Knew others were going for it, but being the one who had actually done the job before thought I had more than a good chance of getting it.

Invites for interview were sent out on the Friday - which is non working day for me so I didn't see it until the Monday morning, meaning I Iost a weekend of prep time. Interviews scheduled for the following Monday, so only a week's notice for me. We had to prepare a presentation for the interview (with no time scheduled during work to do so). This also happened to be the week of my mum's 1 year anniversary of her sudden death, and the week in which we buried her ashes. I see a therapist and the week before this she said she thought I was depressed - because I said I was struggling to get out of bed and do basic things like the washing up and laundry.

I worked hard to prepare a presentation. Long story short I didn't get the job - despite being told I had done a really good presentation. Because I 'didn't have enough examples on the behaviour and strength questions'. Despite having worked with these people closely for 5-10 years. They know I can solve a problem, they've seen me do it every week. Yes I could have had better answers. But last week was the worst week for me to have to prepare for this. I put the time and effort I had in me getting my presentation in good shape.

I'm absolutely devastated. I feel like crap and need advice about what to do next. Think I'll need to take some time off for mental health reasons, how do I go about this? I feel so angry. I'm not sure if they were allowed to do what they did with demoting me when returning from mat leave.

No I don't think you should take time off for mental health.

You have to roll with the punches sometimes.

If you're truly unhappy, look for a new job elsewhere.

I can't see taking time off will help in any way.

I think if you take the time off now, it will look like you don't cope well with feedback and rejection. I feel like it could go against you next time you apply for a promotion.

This is the time to double down, show them what you're made of and make sure you get the promotion next time.

The recruitment process means that the selected candidate is the one who gives the best performance at a specific type of interview, on the day.

I’ve been on both sides of this, as an unsuccessful candidate and as a manager.

IME colleagues that can ‘talk the talk’ do better both at interview and career wise! Some good at other aspects of the job, some not 😆

I did get a good presentation together in the time. They said that aspect was really good. Considering the role we're in, where putting presentations together and presenting them is central (we are designers), I don't see why this wasn't given more weight Vs the interview questions.

My whole experience has been judged on half an hour and answers to 6 questions. Vs 10 years of demonstrating that I can do the job well, and out performing the person who did get it.

They are entitled to chose who they like. But I am also entitled to feel shit about it. It feels like all the hard work I've put in actually doing the job well means nothing.

The way they have handled this whole restructure is shocking. One good thing that might come out of this is getting away from that place!

Multiple redundancies because we have been losing money (in private sector we would have been bankrupted years ago!!), no one at the top has been made redundant, in face many of them have received promotions in this restructure.

Take your anger and use it constructively.

You're clearly a motivated and capable worker.

Go where you are appreciated!

They do not benefit by appointing someone who is no good. As such the person appointed was felt to be a better candidate. It’s tough to deal with but it’s just the way it is and since you weren’t in the interviews for the others you can’t possibly say you performed better.

I’m sorry. Interviews are the most stupid way to select someone for a role but unfortunately, especially in the public sector, that’s the way things are done.

i work in education and I have lost count of the number of appointments to roles which have had us all shaking our heads in disbelief, because the useless candidate “had a really good interview”, despite everyone on the panel knowing how useless they are. Always results in the useless candidate continuing to be useless, and often results in good candidates feeling disgruntled and leaving for pastures new feeling

I’m sorry to hear you’ve been struggling OP. But a week is plenty of time to prepare and I’m not sure what you thought they would do about the anniversary - give you more time because of this?!

I understand it stings and you feel embarrassed - not that you should of course, but it is understandable completely to feel that way.

Why do YOU think the other person got the job and not you?

Why was the process unfair?

You can choose to check your work emails on non working days if you want, but you didn’t. They liked your presentation, so it didn’t make a difference anyway. You can’t expect the world to stop because of a bereavement from a year ago. They were right to choose the best candidate from the interviews they held. It would have been unfair if they had made people
go through the process of interview including a presentation and then offered you the job based on past performance.

I’m sorry you feel so bad and you’re clearly going through a lot. I also don’t think your employer has done anything wrong from a legal stance. I do think multiple interviews to keep your existing jobs was unnecessarily stressful.

You sound depressed and stressed and I think you should see your GP for assessment. Perhaps your manager can do a stress risk assessment and refer you to occupational health. You might benefit from a short break from work to decompress, reflect and get well.

I don’t think it was unfair, it’s life, it happens. I’ve lost out on jobs and disagreed with the decision, I think most of us have and a week is plenty of time to prepare a presentation.
You sound like you have lots of transferable skills, why not look at a move to the private sector? You might find it suits you more.

Sympathies OP. However it sounds like you have been in the civil service for a long time so you will know the interviews are based solely on your ability to demonstrate the competencies - your needed to be able to use your past experiences in the role and put them into the STAR format for each competency question asked. I’m not saying this is relevant to you but just because someone has done a role doesn’t mean they were any good at it.

However, if you do need time off to address your MH then you should do so.

With maternity leave it’s likely six years since you did the job op, it’s a long time.

saying a week wasn’t enough to prepare you also needed the weekend, and complaining you couldn’t do it in working hours, when work part time, doesn’t reflect well on you, especially as arguably you should be the most equipped for the interview.
as others said, it’s sad it fell on a bad week for you. But you don’t know the personal life issues of others interviewing, and this is never a reason.

you can’t bully them into giving it to you by complaining about discrimination, they did nothing wrong 5 years ago and everything right.

i think the issue here is you thought you would get it simply as you’d done it before, which was an erroneous assumption to make.

if you really are unwell mentally then go off with stress, but if you’re doing it out of spite and just as you didn’t get the job , then I’d not do this, either way it also doesn’t cast you in a good light.

keep looking for oppportinities, this one wasn’t it. Keep performing in your role. You will achieve your goal.

OP it’s public sector and “you didn’t provide enough examples” = you didn’t tick the box. I have worked with incompetent and inept colleagues who evidently interviewed really well. It’s a really skewed interview process.

You are/have been going through a rough time, single parenthood alone should shine your strength at an interview because it’s bloody hard work and it shows many worthwhile workplace skills.

Please do not feel down about this, it’s not you it’s the ridiculous interview process. You will get your chance again somewhere. Don’t be discouraged. You’re doing an ace job keeping it altogether in and out of work.

If you feel like having time off then do so, only you know how you feel.

Good luck OP your DS is lucky to have a Mum like you❤️all the best

But for the interview process to be fair, they can’t give you an advantage by taking into your account how you perform generally. It has to be based solely on the interview.

And I know it sucks that someone newer and younger (and probably someone who doesn’t have the same family responsibilities) gets the job when you feel you deserve it, but sometimes, they are just that little bit better.

I didn’t get a job they knew I could do, as I’d done it on secondment because other people scored higher than I did. No resentment it was just one of those things.

I would get through this week, so it doesn't appear so reactive to not getting the job.
Let your boss know late on friday that you have been struggling with your mum's death etc, that its interfering with your sleep, and you are going to see GP on Monday and will be off next week.

I understand your disappointment but I don't think your workplace did anything wrong. You did have a week to prepare and an interview is where you demonstrate your aptitude for the job. I don't think other things they know about you, your day to day performance for instance, count. It's how your interview is scored on the day. Perhaps have a look around for other roles. You may find something that is actually better than the job you didn't get.

The NHS is similar.All jobs are advertised and it goes solely on the interview. I had a similar experience recently. It sucks and seems unfair but unfortunately there's little you can do.

This isn't correct. The limitation for an employment tribunal is 3 months but there is often an option of a claim in the county court depending upon circumstances. That claim may be out of time under tort but under contract law may be admissible albeit almost impossible. I'm happy to be corrected by an employment lawyer . . . if I'm incorrect.

Op I'd suggest continuing in your current job and taking some time to review what career path you'd like to take and work toward that. I'm sure you had a lot going on but interviewers can mark only on your performance that day.

Legal avenues are fraught with stress and pain, and at most stages unlikely to give any validation to how you feel.

I knew it was going to based on the interview in reality. I fucked up with the interview questions. I feel like crap. I know, and have proved that I can do the job better than the person they have given it to. I should have rehearsed the Star stuff or whatever that is. Fucks sake.

I'm absolutely devastated. I feel like crap and need advice about what to do next. Think I'll need to take some time off for mental health reasons, how do I go about this? I feel so angry. I'm not sure if they were allowed to do what they did with demoting me when returning from mat leave

Taking time off for mental health reasons because you’re angry you didn’t get the job is not professional. Rejection is a part of working life.

Ask for detailed feedback and learn from it and move on.

Excuses such as I didn’t see the email because I don’t work on Fridays don’t really wash anymore.

You aren't understanding. Its about how you answer questions in the interview. There is a scoring matrix, civil service uses this to award scores for answers. Full marks for fully answering down to low mark for not fully answering or giving the information they are looking for. The highest total score wins the job. Ask to see a scoring matrix, to understand how it works. This is key to understanding how to prep for future interviews. Sadly in the civil service its not about how well you can or have done the job, its about how you score in the interview. It has to look fair and objective, it covers them if someone challenges the process. In the civil service promotions go to people good at interviews not necessarily good at the job.

You went for a job you thought you were a shoe in for, and from your post, considered it to be yours already. You didnt get it.
And now you are going off sick in a strop and claiming a mental health issue.
If you really are this fragile then perhaps you werent up to the job anyway.

“I 'didn't have enough examples on the behaviour and strength questions'.”
”I don't see why [my presentation] wasn't given more weight Vs the interview questions.”

OP, I’ve never worked in the civil service, but I’ve known someone who has, and who interviewed for her department, and I’ve heard her bemoaning the fact that there were good people who didn’t get promotion because all the sections of the interview are scored and the job goes to the person with the best score, irrespective of experience. She was particularly irritated on one occasion when the best candidate in terms of track record didn’t get a post because of this system. Unfortunately, you just have to learn to play the game.
As for “taking time off for mental health”, surely all you will be doing is proving to them that actually, you weren’t the right person for the job - employers like employees who show a bit of resilience. You will get over this disappointment - have you asked for feedback? Do a bit more research to find out what they’re looking for in the interview, and I’m sure you’ll be successful next time.