Can you be turned for a job, and be given the reason "Others had more experience than you in X" when X wasn't given as essential in the job advert?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Bit of background. I've applied for a job internally, which said "an understanding of X would be useful." I have six years experience of X - it's a very, very specialised field and I think there would be very few people who had this experience. I was rejected, (didn't even get an interview) and the email said "Others had more experience in X than you did."

So legally, can they turn me down (apart from the fact that they've ignored my experience in the field) for a job, stating I don't have experience in something that wasn't advertised as being mandatory in the job description?

Yes they can.

The only illegal reasons would be turning someone down on the grounds of gender, age, religion, race etc.

I've turned people down for spelling mistakes who had the right qualifications.

I would maybe reply and say you are disappointed because you feel you have excellent experience in that area if you really want the job.

Interesting. So you could advertise for, say, an accounts clerk, and turn someone down for the position on the grounds that they couldn't type, despite the fact that typing wasn't a requirement for the job? Sounds very to me.

Lots of JDs have an 'essential' list and a 'desirable' list. If they get several applicants who all meet the essentials then they will use the desirables to create a shortlist.

What trixymalixy said.

Trixy is right I'm afraid. You are not protected in law from a potential employer being unfair, just against them being discriminatory on the legally prohibited grounds.

So, in your example, the decision would be perfectly ok unless, say, typing was not relevant to the job and the reason that the otherwise best candidate could not type was a mobility disability. Then you might be straying into discrimination territory.

People often think that employment law stops things being unfair, and maybe it should, but actually it prohibits very little except tightly regulating behviour around dismissals and discrimination.

And proving it can be very difficult, keeping in mind that the employer is holding all the cards, has access to confidential personnel information.

A friend of mine was on a black list for her trade union activities. she couldn't get a job despite being very qualified, but it's an employer's discretion. She eventually went to work for the union, but that's another thread

I guess it depends on how many applications they had, sometimes it is really hard to whittle down candidates.

It was a real eye opener seeing things from the other side for me and how important a good application was.

As tigana said, there is usually an essential and desireable criteria list. Was X on the desireable criteria list perhaps?

I work in the NHS and often interview. It can be tough to select if there are a lot of applications, so we then turn to the desireable criteria.

Well I ticked all of their essentials, including fluency in a language. X was "desirable", so by ticking all of their essentials, plus having years of experience in the only desirable, I thought I merited an interview at least. I want to know what these people who merited an interview had, that I didn't.

Do you work in the commercial sector? In the NHS it's almost impossible to recruit someone who doesn't fulfill all the essential criteria over someone who only fulfills the desireable. I do know someone who actually threatened legal action when she was rejected in this manner, and they had to withdraw the initial job offer they'd made to someone else and offer it to her - she really pursued it.

On the face of it, it's sounds as if you were not treated particularly fairly, but if the others had the essential and desireable then I guess that swayed it. Bloody annoying for you . Can you get more detailed feedback?

MrsSchadenfreude

I went for two identiclal jobs (except for hours) with same Council last year. First job was part time (exactly what I wanted)- got interview but was said to have been beaten by slightly better internal candidate. Second job was full time - didn't even get an interview, they just had a much better field of applicants the second time around.

Annoying but unless you can see the applications and scoring you'll never really know what the differences are between you and other candidates...

Paolosgirl - public sector. I've asked for more detailed feedback, including the "assessment sheet" they wrote when assessing my application. I don't want to make too much fuss yet, as I've applied for another job at the same place!

I won't be able to see the scoring of the other candidates, obviously, but I can see if what they have written about me was accurate. If they have kept the sheet, that is. They are supposed to keep them for six months, but when I've asked for it before, I've been told, oh sorry, didn't realise we were supposed to keep them and it's been binned.

Ah....then you may have more rights, perhaps? Definitely get hold of the assessment sheet - pretty sure you can under FOI if they get sticky. They'll have strict procedures in place to ensure that recruitment is a fair process, and it's up to the ones doing the short listing to stick to them. Good luck.

Binned it?

If they did it again, would you want to involve the union, or request a second assessment? Surely binning it is in breace of data protection or something?

Yes they can certainly legally turn you down on those grounds. It doesn't sound as though they said you didn't have experience in X, ust that others had more, and there is nothing wrong or unusual in having 'desirable' criteria as well as essentials.

It does seem strange that you didn't even get an interview, but on the face of it, it's perfectly possible they had 6 or 7 candidates who also fulfilled all the essential criteria and all the desirables to a greater degree than you did.

I agree viewing your assessment sheet is the first step, you will then obviously be able to see whether your own assessment was based on accurate information which is a start.

Yes, if it happens again, I will get dead arsey. I know quite a lot about data protection and FOI too.

Good luck