feel i have been treated badly - advice?

[TricityBendixx]

so this is my situation.
began a 4 month temporary contract with a company in November. just as the contract is coming to an end my line manager told me that a vacancy had come up in a different project within the company, and would i be interested in it?

when he described it i decided that yes, i would be interested in it. line manager then spoke to the director (who knows me) and he said he would be happy for me to take the job.

i was then told that as a formality i would have to apply in writing and be interviewed. fine.

since getting the thumbs up from the director my line manager has made it abundantly clear that the job is 'in the bag' so to speak - it is mine for the taking. he even discouraged me from attending an interview elsewhere because, well, why bother if my job situation is sorted?

fast forward to last Thursday: i had the interview, it was okay, but fluffed a couple of (important) questions. interview was with director and newly appointed manager of the project i'd be working on.

was not offered job.
reason given? they wanted someone with more experience with the client group. this does not wash at all with me as this is something i have plenty of experience of. so i think this was an excuse. if it was a genuine reason then the director (who knows my background/ qualifications) should not have encouraged me to apply in the first place.

i now face unemployment in three days time. obviously i feel stupid for counting my chickens before they'd hatched, BUT the message was loud and clear: the job had been offered to me (informally, off the record etc) and it was pretty much guaranteed. my lawyer friend reckons i should make a big fuss. i intend to speak to the director on Monday and i'll make sure i get some answers.

i don't know what advice can be given. WWYD in my situation?? i know i've been a bit stupid, i just wanted to vent really....

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do. In employment if its not written down it isn't worth anything :(

What kind of 'big fuss' does your lawyer friend think you should make? On what basis?

Sounds as though they haven't been entirely frank about the reasons, but the new manager certainly ought to have most of the say in the recruitment process, so if he/she has decided you are not what they are looking for, or the director has changed their view, there's not much 'a big fuss' can do to change that. If you messed up two significant questions I imagine that had quite a lot to do with it.

In terms of WWYD, I would ask to speak to the director and request some more detailed reasons/feedback.

Don't think you've got a leg to stand on. They shouldn't be recruiting like this anyway, it's not fair to the other candidates who would have been wasting their time. Probably they did intend to take you but someone else had better experience & performed better than you at interview.