I'm a bag of nerves about my husband's interview with a Local Authority

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My DH has been made redundant with very little notice or consultation (pay in lieu of notice). I'm full of panic and still in shock but I'm trying to stay calm for his sake. So instead of stressing him out with all my questions, I'm turning to mumsnet instead.

He managed to get an interview for a local authority. The job is a 40k technical office role. He can do the job standing on his head, he's been doing it successfully for years in the private sector.

The advert unexpectedly closed a week early. There was no mention that they might do this when they get too many candidates. When he booked the interview on the online portal there was only one other slot taken and rest were empty. Do you think the early closure means it's been earmarked for an internal candidate? He qualifies for an interview due to their disability policy so I wonder if it's all a waste of his time and they're only seeing him because they have to for equal opps purposes.

Also if anyone works in the sector, how long after the interview do they inform the successful candidate?

I'm trying to calm my inner stress by managing my expectations!

An interview is never a waste of time when you are re-entering the jobs market.

Surely it just means they have enough candidates who meet the minimum requirements.

Has he got access to any interview support as part of his exit?

How can we help?

Please try to stay calm - he will feed off your energy.

@Whataretheodds Sadly no interview support but I have researched civil service competency interview techniques and shared links with him. He's been busy studying all day preparing his ideas.

I'm staying very calm to him, but I'm suffering inner turmoil because of how much he wants this job and how awful the surprise redundancy has been. We've had a run of bad luck this year and I really want us to catch a break. He would desperately love to do this role and I just want things to work out for him.

In terms of how you can help, I just wanted to canvas opinion on whether he stands a chance or not. I have heard when jobs close early it means they kept it open just long enough for the internal person they want to apply.

I suppose posting on Mumsnet with the worries that pop into my head at 3am is my way of maintaining a calm exterior for DH. I can look like an emotional wreck here and stay cool for him.

Well, you can't possibly know what the rest of the field looks like.

The best advice I can give is to not put all your eggs in this basket but use it as an opportunity for interview practice and feedback. Give it your best shot, but go in with confidence. Anyone would be knocked by surprise redundancy - put out of your mind any implication that it is a value judgement. It's a reflection on the
economics of that company.

There may be something about the published values of the department he's applying to - worth finding out and ensuring he touches on them in his answers.

I've never heard of any public sector organisation closing applications early, so I don't know what that means. If there was a very short application window of say, a week, that would be more indicative of an internal candidate in my experience.
The fact that it's a guaranteed interview would concern me more that it's a box ticking exercise. I think you have to prepare yourselves that his chances of getting the job are slim.

I work in a local authority, not in a technical role so it might be different in different directorates, but times are tough - we have an authority wide recruitment freeze except in exceptional circumstances so I would say if a job has been advertised externally then they haven't got an internal candidate to fill the post.

Again I don't know about technical roles but our job interviews are usually competency based so SMART and consider equality/inclusion/diversity throughout answers. Have a look at what the key areas are for that council eg they will have some sort of council wide plan for the future and consider where the role fits in that and feed that into answers. Also understand the council values. Good luck!

Sometimes they close jobs once an internal/preferred candidate has applied. If it was an equal ops guaranteed interview I wouldn't be all that hopeful however interview experience when re-entering the jobs market is invaluable. Best of luck to him

They can't do that especially if PS. They will have enough people who fill the criteria now and yes at least one internal who they will want to appoint

I haven't worked for a LA for years but when I did they gave really thorough interview feedback, so if he doesn't get the job ask him to ask for any feedback as it could help him out in the long run.

Good luck to him. I don't know if it's applicable to his field but agencies might have temporary roles he could be put forward for in the meantime, gets his foot in the door places.

Nobody here knows what they’re thinking or what his chances are! Every employer and vacancy is different even in LAs or other PS employers.

He should be going into every interview assuming that he and everyone else who is being interviewed has a chance of success, so who knows what the outcome will be.

As for the guaranteed interview scheme, I tick that box and have succeeded in getting the job more than once. You only get a guaranteed interview if you meet the essential criteria, so you do have a chance. There’s no telling how good the other shortlisted candidates are. On at least one of those occasions there was an internal candidate who had been expected to get the job.

Someone I know has been recruiting several team members. For one vacancy there was a strong internal candidate. They interviewed well but weren’t appointed, because one of the externals had spot on experience for the job. Nobody is going to appoint an internal candidate if there’s someone from outside who is clearly better. Unless they’re corrupt, and we can’t do anything about that.

Good luck to your dh, it’s tough. When I was made redundant I applied for literally dozens of jobs, and was disappointed several times when I got an interview but didn’t get the job. If he doesn’t get this one, he should learn what he can from the experience and move on to the next one.

I work in an LA and we are recruiting at the moment. We close our applications when we've got sufficient candidates.

I would encourage your dh to do his best, even if it feels like he's going through the motions. I once went for a job where it was very obvious on the day of the interview that an internal candidate was going to get it. However, I got very good feedback and two weeks later they phoned me to say another person in the same job had resigned, so if I was still interested they would offer it to me as it was same JD, same salary etc.

Good luck to your dh

Thanks so much everyone, some very good advice here and I will encourage him to give it his best shot. I'll try and remember to update you all! Interview is tomorrow and I've no idea how long they usually take to let you know.

As others have said, it is definitely worth him going ahead. For the interview practice ( make sure that in his examples he rehearses case studies using STAR method and also that he personally takes credit for strategies and outcomes - 'I recommended that we took X action, the result was y outcome, the CEO wrote me a letter of commendation and the system I developed was shared around the company as an example of best practice'. Don't let him use 'we did this' or 'my team' did that.)

Also good to do because if he doesn't get this role but needs the bar for appointability they may well have a reserve list and keep his name for the next vacancy. It is a boon when recruiting to have great candidates up your sleeve.

My DH did exactly this. Was in industry for 10 years, project based work. The industry tanked at the start of covid and they got rid of around 50% of the workforce and all projects immediately grounded to a halt so there was no work.

He applied for every single job he found for 6 months then eventually found one with a LA. Did the interview and got the job.

If I'm honest it was a stop gap because the pace was much slower than his previous industry and everyone else was LA for 20+ years and there was a lot of meetings about meetings. About 9 months later he went into a new industry and absolutely loving it.

Hope your DH gets something soon, it was incredibly hard to watch mine go through redundancy. It stripped him in a lot of confidence in his career and loss of identity. Hopefully he gets an ever better job than before.

Sorry I said SMART above but meant STAR. Wish we could edit posts.

Thanks for all your help everyone, it's been very useful.

A little update, DH had the interview and thought it went well. He had to do a presentation and then answer some predictable STAR questions that he prepared for so there were no surprises.

Here's where it gets confusing. The advert on the website closed early as soon as DH put in his application. Yet they told him at interview that a decision couldn't be made until the original advert closure date which was Sunday.

They initially told DH the decision would be made on Monday, then we got an email to say that another candidate applied before the deadline and they need to interview them this week so we will be told Wednesday afternoon.

It's all very confusing and I'm not sure what it means for his chances but we will soon find out.

OP best of luck to your DH but I would advise not overthinking it too much. There are a range of factors which will influence him getting the job, I've seen as much going through the motions with internal candidates that it's hard to justify not interviewing when you know they are a management nightmare as I have internal candidates being 'guaranteed' the job.

The problem with this level of analysis is it makes it extra disappointing if he's not successful and that level of pressure is not going to help him be successful at interview.

Thanks @NotMyDayJob that's interesting. I'm being cool and calm in front of DH but internally I need to discuss things and analyse them to keep myself together, it's just how my brain works. Mumsnet is a useful outlet for this so I don't end up talking to DH about it too much or worrying him. He thinks I'm pretty chill so no worries there!

I really hope he gets this job!

Actually, for many local authorities now, if the job is being advertised externally then there is no suitable internal candidate. Because of the risk of compulsory redundancy (ours had been on statutory notification for several years!) all posts go to the redeployment pool first, then internal. It is only in exceptional circumstances that we go external before exhausting internal options.

fingers crossed for your DP!

The positive from this, even if he doesn't get the job, is that he's not a 'no'.

I'm not LA but similar in terms of this type of application process and we are usually pretty quick to do the rejections. If he hasn't been rejected he's at least on hold which means they would be happy to employ him but may have a preferred candidate above him.

So if he's that close this time round he obviously has the skills they want and interviews well.

If you don't get the news you want those are the things I'd focus on so he keeps positive.

He is also entitled to ask for feedback.

Any update?

It's all been delayed until Wednesday afternoon now so I'll update when we hear.