Interviews, what a headache

[Designer]

I finally thought my luck had changed a few weeks back but now i'm very deeply disgruntled.

One of our engineering team-leaders left for pastures new and an internal vacancy was posted on the notice board so i rapidly applied.

Here's the job description (what i have is in brackets)


Completed a time served apprenticeship (yes)
A minimum of 3 years experience working with Engel, Krauss, Demag, Negri and Husky IMM's (6 years expereience)
Good communication skills (YES - done this job on temporary basis before)
NVQ Level 3 engineering maintenance (yes + 6 additional course modules)
ONC Electrical / Mechanical (YES - Passed with distinctions & merits)
Knowledge of demould robots (YES - worked on them for 6 years plus have certificate from programming course)


Now i've worked there as a shift-engineer for 6 years, I do all the hours i possibly can, always do overtime where available and i've even bailed them out of the mess on several occasions like going in at 3AM to fix problems that no-one else has been able to work out.

Do they offer me the job...Do they heck

They give it to someone with little or no experience in this field of engineering who doesnt even have any of the qualifications or expereience (an outsider - i had a chat with the interviewer) they have asked for in the job description and try to fob me off with a load of rubbish about communication. Everyone i work with thought i'd have bagged that job so i've just lost out on a 6.5k payrise.

I have a feeling this is all due to a disagreement I had a while back at work with someone in management.

I just got round to thinking from a legal aspect today as I am currently looking for another job because of this, a friend suggeted i might want to look into sueing for discrimination (via the union), does anyone think this s feasible?

[bailey]

I seriously doubt that you will gain anything going that route,
you admitted your having a problem with management and that could be the sole reason for over looking you bid for the job, and fighting it would only make matters worst.

[Designer]

Not so much a problem with management, but more a problem with one guy who just seems to have something against me (unfortunately he is senior managemenet).

That all stems back to me doing a repair and the person in question virtually hanging over my should constantly asking how long the repair would take at which point i said "a lot longer if you keep interrupting me asking me questions". In all honesty now I have come to the conclusion that i have no real future with that company and currently i'm looking for something else (even thinking of going self-employed). I just wondered if there's anthing i can pull them up on as i know they have a poor reputation as it is and often will settle out of court for anything rather than put more dents in their already poor reputation.

[glc]

Going to court or the labor board will insure that you won't get a good reference from your current employer when you are job seeking.

[Jester]

I can speak from personal experience. glc is right. If you go after them legally they will go after your reputation. A former employer of my wifes is trying to get her fired from her current job, which is in the same field. A while back we filed suit for wrongful termination. We didn't even ask for that much money just what we actually needed to get us to the next job. We won, but we now don't have a vet in town that will take our dogs and this woman is trying to get my wife fired. It wont happen but its a big hea ache

[David M]

Given the company has told you that you are not going to advance within the company without directly saying so, I would start looking elsewhere unless you want to keep a dead end job for the security.

Telling a supervisor or anyone who is looking over your shoulder asking when something will be done and then replying with such a terse remark is pretty unprofessional and inexcusable in my opinion. It's generally good policy for yourself to keep any negative emotions/remarks at work in check.

I would go to the competition and start seing if they are hiring. Nothing pisses off an ex-employer more than to see an employee jump the fence and give away methods of doing work to the competition. Hopefully you did not sign a non-disclosure agreement.

I generally agree with the legalities expressed above. I do want to add that nobody owes you a job in this world and sometimes others make mistakes in not hiring the right person for the job. But because you disagree with their seemingly bad decision does not grant you any legal recourse.

I wish you the best.

[sdkfz]

Sorry bout that, any chance this person you have annoyed will be retiring soon? You could wait them out.

Absolutley do not let on you are looking elsewhere.

[Jaggannath]

Why not tell them you're looking elsewhere?? It's a free labour market, you don't owe them anything... if they're not providing adequate career progression options then tell them so, and say that unless they can give you some idea of where they see you fitting in you'll be looking elsewhere to see if you can be offered a better deal.

Definitely don't take them to court, that's just making you appear truculent and a PITA worker, and noone wants a litigious worker around

[Designer]

Telling a supervisor or anyone who is looking over your shoulder asking when something will be done and then replying with such a terse remark is pretty unprofessional and inexcusable in my opinion. It's generally good policy for yourself to keep any negative emotions/remarks at work in check.

I know i shouldnt have said what i said (bearing in mind this was about 3 years ago), at the time i had my head stuck in the back of an electrical cabinet trying to work my way through an intermittent electrical fault, and had been working on this for several hours, the whole time this person was virtually hanging over my shoulder and literally every 5 minutes was asking how i was getting on and how long it would take. I suppose you guys can appreciate what I meant whan i said that because it was causing me to take longer as everytime he asked me a question i lost concentration on the job, had to stop, then pick up where i left off.

I think you guys are right about the legal thing...I'll just let it go, there's probably nothing that could be done anyways, i've just decided now that i'm not going to be purposefully awkard or anything especially to the new guy as its not his fault, but on the other hand i'm not going to teach him anything and i'm no longer going to do the company any favours like coming in when i get phoned up at 2AM to sort something, or staying on till 10PM because someone hasnt shown up, that way i'm making it pretty obvious i'm unhappy about their decision without actually having to be unfairly awkard to anyone and that'll be enough to cause the company problems, as i'm the only person who is prepared to come in a silly times to fix things so no-one else will do it.

[EzyStvy]

What does your union rep say about all this?

[David M]

Do not tell your employer you are leaving or considering leaving. There is a good chance that if they even suspect you are leaving that they will start interviewing behind your back and then find a reason to fire you so they are not left without a person to fill in your job position.

[Designer]

What does your union rep say about all this?

To be honest i havnt consulted with them over this, i do however know a solicitor who i have discussed this with and they reckon i could be onto something although i decided not to even bother worrying about it.

As for telling them i'm looking for another job, well, to be honest I very much doubt they'd fire me just for looking for another job as they are already totally understaffed in the engineering department.

[Statica]

If you want to leave, do so on your own terms, in as professional a manner as possible ... trying to make an announcement of your departure, even before you know where you're going, IMHO is more of a ploy to attract attention than to further yourself. Ask yourself this .. if things were good at work and you were looking for something with more pay would you still be doing the same things? Just as you expect bosses who are professional in their dealings, it furthers your interests in being professional... in terms of positive work references etc. If your idea is to negotiate for more incentives at your current workplace by threatening to quit .. then (a) this is not good negotiation strategy (never is a good strategy to tell people what you are going to do to yourself to prove a point) and (b) be aware that you are possibly going to burn a lot of bridges.

[Designer]

Well, i have asked for a payrise (which has sort of been OK'd), just have to see where that leads and if i get one whether I consider it to be a reasonable one.... I've not announced to anyone of my intentions to leave the company yet, or actually been purposefully awkard or lax in my work so as far as im aware i'm still on good terms with work.

What I do however consider a complete insult is that i am one of the lowest paid engineers we have (we have 6 engineers) and only 3 of us work a 3-shift rota. As things stand out of all our engineers I have the most qualifications and i'm the one that all of the others phone up (day or night depending what shift im working) when they cant sort something out and i'll normally walk them through the faultfinding process over the phone or i'll just go into work (for a callout fee of course :) ) and sort it, not trying to deliberately sound bigheaded or anything but that's honestly how it has been for the last 3 years, that kind of an added insult to me.