Living with rejection

It was a strange week of rejections last week. I was turned down for a top job after getting this close, then found out I hadn't been shortlisted for two posts for which I was applying internally and for which I was very well qualified (which is actually quite sinister, so investigations are ongoing into that one).

The whole thing, naturally, left me feeling quite depressed, and made me question what it is I want to do with the rest of my life. I'm only 33, this looks like a mid-life crisis, which means I'm going to die when I'm 66. That makes me feel so much better!

But aside from the personal issues, it has made me think about the whole recruitment process. I think, despite their best efforts, the organisation I applied to made the whole thing far too stressful and convoluted, and failed in the end even to thank me for all the time, effort and (this still gets me) money I put into it. Two interviews taking two days, the travelling these entailed, a presentation and written piece and the research required all added up to around six or seven days plus expenses.
As a freelance consultant I get �400 a day for my time. As a visiting lecturer I get �30 and hour. So the process "cost" me at least �2000.

That's a lot of money, especially as one of the reasons I wanted the job (actually low down on the list but still relevant) was I needed the money!

I don't think recruiters understand the investment that applicants make in job hunting. It's the same no matter what level the job is.
Polly Toynbee, in her excellent book Hard Work shows that people on minimum wage jobs cannot afford to look for better-paid jobs because to do so means leaving the one they've got (or at least, losing a day's wages), travelling by public transport, buying cheap shoes and a suit and so on... I can't do it justice - read the book.

Compared with that, my situation is nothing, but it's all relative.

All the way up the ladder, looking for a new job brings risks. When I worked in the private sector a job interview was a secret - under no circumstances should you let your boss know.
I remember in my first job I was offered a post in Liverpool, a long way from where I was. I wasn't sure whether to take it so asked my boss for advice. After lots of thought I turned it down - then got a telling off from my boss because going for the job was disloyal! I've heard of people being dismissed for even looking at the jobs pages...

In education, in theory, it's a lot simpler. Friends who teach in schools tell me that going for an interview is an open thing - your head teacher knows, though you might not tell everyone - partly so that cover can be arranged but mainly because everyone hopes for the best for people's careers. I find that enlightening.

When I moved in to Further Education I found, thanks to the management style at the time, that private sector attitudes ruled. In Higher Education it's a bit more relaxed, but still there are differences depending on the managers.

For me, when I was a manager of a course, I encouraged my team to think about their careers, as did my boss, with weekly emails of job opportunities being forwarded to people who might be interested. Sadly, as most of my team had private sector minds they seemed to think I was dropping hints! Actually, looking back I wish I had...

The thing that really hurts about this situation though is that so far I haven't heard anything from the organisation other than a cursory phone call from the recruiting agency to say I was unsuccessful. No letter of thanks, no offer of expenses reimbursed, nothing. I could phone them up for feedback but I think I'd be inclined to give them some too.

For what it's worth the interview went brilliantly (other than a group exercise which was so funny I might post something about it later) so I was a bit disappointed I didn't get the job, but I was up against an internal candidate, and the two-phase process meant I was also up against four other very good candidates. But to be phoned by someone who wasn't even at the interview, who couldn't even offer a start of an explanation, was not on. Add that to the �2000 in lost income and you start to see why I might be annoyed.

I wonder if it's time that employers were asked to sign up to a code of behaviour regarding recruiting staff and also encouraging staff to seek promotion externally? I'd start with requirements to pay expenses and to provide constructive feedback to failed candidates (with no comeback allowed if the candidate doesn't like it, of course).