Would you appeal if a panel member on an interview board did this?

[TheYearOfTheCat]

I'm asking on behalf of a colleague who sat an promotion board this week. We work in the public sector. She feels that she performed really badly, and when I spoke to her about it, she said that she found the actions of one of the panel members so distracting that it really negatively affected her performance.

She describes that the woman, who was visibly pregnant, was half moaning, and constantly rubbing her bump, she then put her elbows on the desk and held her head in her hands, was chewing her fingers, had zero eye contact, and made no notes throughout the interview.

My colleague found it so off-putting, she was tempted to ask the woman was she OK (however, didn't). I think my colleague should submit an appeal based on the (possibly understandable) behaviour of the panel member.

I don't think it would do any harm to submit an appeal (it is a large organisation, and she does not know the panel member) and it is the first opportunity for promotion for 8 years, so there is a lot at stake.

Any thoughts?

I would not bother tbh.

First thought...sour grapes Hate to say it but do you think your colleague just had a tough time in there?

She could always enquire how the pregnant lady is afterwards? You know, mention it to someone else on the panel that she was concerned for the pregnant lady, found herself concerned for her health, was going to pass out blah blah..

Presumably everyone who was interviewed had the same panel and so, if this woman was feeling unwell, all of them probably had roughly the same experience? I wouldn't bother to be honest.

Message withdrawn

She shouldn't complain. As long as the woman did the same thing during all other interviews, each candidate was exposed to the same levels of possible distraction, so no injustice.

Agree don't complain. You said yourself she feels she performed badly, and presumably the same conditions applied for all candidates as Ribena says.

She should take what she can from it, try and get some useful constructive feedback and move on.

I don't really understand this. How did it affect her performance?

I could understand if it affected an interviewee's performance but if she was sitting on the panel, how would it affect her's? There's nothing difficult about sitting on an interview panel IMO (I've done it and it's nowhere near as challenging as being an interviewee).

She's missed the chance to call the woman on her behaviour - she should have addressed it at the time.