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Why does the less qualified person get the job?


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2 people just went for the same job in my company....a 45 year old who is a great worker, never missed a day and never late, always stays ahead with her work, and a 32 year old skinny blonde (cute but plain) who has missed 10 days in the last few months for different reasons, alway 20 minutes late but never stays late, and can't keep up with her work....guess who they gave the job to? Everyone in her dept aew surprised and somewhat angry when the 45 year old was the best candidate.

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Perhaps less qualified from your perspective.

 

I'm assuming this new position was a promotion. Usually that entails a somewhat different set of skills, especially if the person is moving from an individual contributor role to a managerial role. Being a hard worker in your current role is nice. It gets you considered. Having the skills needed for the new role is what matters. That gets you the role.

 

Think of it this way. Working hard is simply the ticket of entry into the stadium. Whether you become a bench warmer or play in the game depends on having the right skills and talent.

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major_merrick

Generally, it isn't what you know, it is who you know. Promotion depends on having kissed the right butts and looked good when it counted. It also helps to be part of the right demographic these days, at least in major companies. Since both of your example candidates were female, it takes out the gender issue. It helps to be attractive, too.... even studies have shown that.

 

It may not sound fair, but this is the way the world works. To get ahead, you play their game. I'm pretty sure that being female/lesbian has gotten me some "brownie points" in my field, where most of the employees are men. It looks good for the company that they hired a woman, that they hired a certain number of people of a "minority" ethnicity, etc... Knowing this, I've made no secret of my orientation and I've taken my GF#1 to company parties as my date/partner. I try to stay in shape, dress modestly but also somewhat attractively, etc... I dislike that it is necessary, but when me and mine depend on my salary, I do what I gotta do.

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GunslingerRoland

Tought to say, not all hiring is fair and there could be biases there.

 

But there could be differences in education and prior experience that you don't realize but make the other person more qualified.

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2 people just went for the same job in my company....a 45 year old who is a great worker, never missed a day and never late, always stays ahead with her work, and a 32 year old skinny blonde (cute but plain) who has missed 10 days in the last few months for different reasons, alway 20 minutes late but never stays late, and can't keep up with her work....guess who they gave the job to? Everyone in her dept aew surprised and somewhat angry when the 45 year old was the best candidate.

 

If they gave the great worker the promotion then who would actually do the work?

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thefooloftheyear

As someone who's been on the other side of the desk, as the boss, sometimes the most qualified isn't what you want....I have had to let go of(and not hire) some of the most qualified people over the years for a variety of reasons...One, in particular that I am currently thinking of has a reputation as a "workplace lawyer"

 

Maybe the younger women presented herself better and the job was such that those type of attributes were more in need...There are a million reasons..

 

If you don't like it, then you can own your own company and hire whoever you want...Until then, I wouldn't concern myself with it...

 

TFY

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ChatroomHero

I have experienced this a few times at 3 different companies. In each of 3 companies I have been in, I was a rockstar in my role. At each of the 3, I had closed door meetings where I was given bonuses, took silent control of jobs, very major jobs, where the others had failed. When I say failed, at 2 of the jobs 2 of the people were on the verge of being fired based on the jobs I rescued. Guess who got promoted and guess who didn't?

 

 

At one company I was told I was the perfect employee and the next day my friend that worked there told me the boss said he wished every employee he had was me. Shortly after that my new boss was a guy that was in trouble a few times for snapping at customers and was for a lack of a better explanation, not the most presentable person I would think you want in front of a customer representing you in a management position.

 

 

I had to seriously fight for any promotion. When I wanted to learn new things, I would be brushed off, do it on my own time, and then get accolades for doing so only to see someone brand new that the boss would complain about, get handed the training.

 

 

What I found was 2 things:

 

 

1) You get typecast. If you fit a role superbly, you leave big shoes to fill. It is easier to hire one person and train for 1 position than hire and train 2 people. If you are valuable where you are, to choose to lose you at that spot is very hard to do.

2) Others are great at selling themselves and fake it until they make it. It takes a while to figure them out, but usually by time they would be figured out, they know how to do enough to look competent. The ones that are not incompetent are very good at throwing you under the buss behind your back and passing blame to you when they know it will not get back to you where you can defend yourself. I find usually they will have a couple of direct hires that will back them up even if they know they are wrong due to being new and not wanting to contradict their boss.

 

 

You can learn to sell yourself better and seek as much glory as you can or in my case I became as good as I could at my job. I still get my share of being passed over, but I write my own ticket. If I ever felt slighted bad enough, I am at the point where with my unique self-taught skill set, I would have a job within a day or I could start my own company and have more than enough contract work to make what I do now.

 

 

I no longer worry about being passed over for someone less competent because I know I cannot control employers, but I can control my own success. If I feel I am disrespected or passed over wrongly, it is entirely my choice to make a change. If you get to that point I think you find you question decisions less and accept and deal with the results from a position of a little power.

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I've heard of managers hiring the less qualified/experienced (maybe close to entry level type?)because that candidate will most likely take the lower pay. Some companies are looking at the bottom line.

 

For this experience, maybe some manager was his friend or something.

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