Prestwich_Blue
Well-Known Member
I was in a bit of a rut at the company I was working for about 20 years ago, having been a high-flyer but then got involved in a project which wasn't 100% successful and suffered because of that. They were looking for internal candidates to take on high-profile jobs managing IT issues for key parts of the business. One of those parts was run by someone I liked and had always got on well with so I applied. Turned out I was the only internal applicant for any of the roles and they had an assessment centre to select the candidates.
The first annoyance was that they met up on the evening before at the Cresta Court Hotel for a dinner and everyone but me stayed over, regardless of whether they lived locally or not (as some did). So I couldn't have a drink and had to drive home and then back the next day. During the day we had to do various tests and tasks, some of which involved working with the 3 other people who were up for the same job. None of them were any good, so I thought I was well placed to be offered the role. The next day, my manager, who was the one running the assessment centre and who sat just across the aisle from me, didn't say anything, which I thought was odd. As the day went on and nothing was said, I got more and more annoyed. She was on the phone to people sorting out the other roles and I was fuming that, as the only internal candidate, I was seemingly not being given the courtesy of being told one way or the other. I also assumed that I wasn't going to be offered the role.
Eventually, in mid-afternoon I snapped and went over to her and told her quietly but firmly that I wasn't amused that I'd been sat there for hours and she hadn't had the decency to speak to me in that time. She was really embarrassed and told me that they had decided not to offer me the role, to which I said that none of the others was a patch on me and she knew it. She agreed and said they weren't going to offer it to any of the others either and that I had performed very well and, in her words, "in fact you were much better than I expected."
It was clear then that I'd been set up and they never had any intention of offering me the role but probably wanted to use my expected failure as an excuse to get rid of me. However, having performed so well, it had changed her mind and I moved into a key role soon after and made a name for myself again.
The first annoyance was that they met up on the evening before at the Cresta Court Hotel for a dinner and everyone but me stayed over, regardless of whether they lived locally or not (as some did). So I couldn't have a drink and had to drive home and then back the next day. During the day we had to do various tests and tasks, some of which involved working with the 3 other people who were up for the same job. None of them were any good, so I thought I was well placed to be offered the role. The next day, my manager, who was the one running the assessment centre and who sat just across the aisle from me, didn't say anything, which I thought was odd. As the day went on and nothing was said, I got more and more annoyed. She was on the phone to people sorting out the other roles and I was fuming that, as the only internal candidate, I was seemingly not being given the courtesy of being told one way or the other. I also assumed that I wasn't going to be offered the role.
Eventually, in mid-afternoon I snapped and went over to her and told her quietly but firmly that I wasn't amused that I'd been sat there for hours and she hadn't had the decency to speak to me in that time. She was really embarrassed and told me that they had decided not to offer me the role, to which I said that none of the others was a patch on me and she knew it. She agreed and said they weren't going to offer it to any of the others either and that I had performed very well and, in her words, "in fact you were much better than I expected."
It was clear then that I'd been set up and they never had any intention of offering me the role but probably wanted to use my expected failure as an excuse to get rid of me. However, having performed so well, it had changed her mind and I moved into a key role soon after and made a name for myself again.