# Entitlement to job interview notes/feedback from VEC



## television (15 Sep 2008)

A friend of


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## April Raine (17 Sep 2008)

*Re: Entitlement to interview notes/feedback*



television said:


> A friend of mine did an interview for a job recently. When they asked for feedback/marks/notes of the interview from the employer (VEC) they were told that the VEC did not have to give feedback/notes/marks. I was rather shocked by this as I though all people were intitled to notes/feedback/scores from an interview. I advised my friend to go though the Data protection commissionar but she said that VEC were not covered under the data protection act. Any thought from anyone would be appreciated.


Contact the Data Protection Commissioner and ask if VEC are covered


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## Complainer (20 Sep 2008)

*Re: Entitlement to interview notes/feedback*



television said:


> she said that VEC were not covered under the data protection act.


This is definitely BS. There may be a question as to whether interview notes are covered under Data Protection and/or FOI legislation. Follow TV's advice, and look into FOI legislation too. 

It sounds like there may be somebody junior trying to fob off the interviewee, so make sure there is a written query into the Head of Corporate Services (or equivalent).


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## sam h (20 Sep 2008)

*Re: Entitlement to interview notes/feedback*

I did interviews for the Census and we were told to make sure anything we wrote could be justified as interviewees could ask about their interview....not sure if they could actually read our notes.


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## mvron (20 Sep 2008)

I believe that VEC Head Offices are subject to FOI though not individual schools. If your friend is a member of a union he/she should contact the local union representative for further advice I'm personally aware of a number of VEC employees who did successfully get scores/feedbacks albeit after multiple requests. Good luck


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## television (20 Sep 2008)

interesting replies thanks. what I thought actually. cheers


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## vector (17 Oct 2008)

how did you manage to get an interview with the VEC in the first place, I remember the word on the street being that even people with wonderful CV's didn't get interviews because a candidate was already in mind from day one


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## April Raine (17 Oct 2008)

Bit OT but what do people think re CE Schemes.?Are they gone before the interview Friend of mine is taking case to Equality Tribunal about one


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## sandrat (17 Oct 2008)

vector said:


> how did you manage to get an interview with the VEC in the first place, I remember the word on the street being that even people with wonderful CV's didn't get interviews because a candidate was already in mind from day one


 
Well it seems they must interview anyone because I had a girl come in looking for directions to an interview at the local VEC about a job there and she asked did I know what VEC stood for and what did they do while on her way to the interview. I wonder if she got the job?


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## April Raine (17 Oct 2008)

sandrat said:


> Well it seems they must interview anyone


By law an employer has to interview everyone and then they can *legally *give the job to the person they had decided pre interview if that is the policy. I *emphasise* I am speaking generally here and not referring to VEC


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## vector (17 Oct 2008)

I imagine that interview had a Very Early Conclusion

I imagine they most go through the motions of interviewing x number of candidates for every job to demonstrate fairness.

Yet I am of the opinion that the the selection of such candidates for interview is random and not based on the CV.

There was an article on this in some college magazine (UCC or CIT) in the last few years where false CVs were sent to public bodies; one for a person of substance (masters, volunteer work etc etc) and the other for a person with only a leaving cert. The conclusion was that those called for interview seemed to be random. I don't think the fake candidates actually did the interviews the point was about who was called.


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## becky (17 Oct 2008)

April Raine said:


> By law an employer has to interview everyone and then they can *legally *give the job to the person they had decided pre interview if that is the policy. I *emphasise* I am speaking generally here and not referring to VEC


 
I'm working in HR almost 10 years and never heard of such an act.


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## Complainer (17 Oct 2008)

April Raine said:


> By law an employer has to interview everyone


This is not true.


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## television (17 Oct 2008)

Complainer said:


> This is not true.


 
I am assuming that the person meant give feedback to everyone?


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## April Raine (17 Oct 2008)

Complainer said:


> This is not true.


As far as I know it is. i will check it out suggest you do too and we can post links. Is is true of FAS CE schemes


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## maison (17 Oct 2008)

She should be entitled to feedback as far as I know. Chances are that the job was already occupied by someone who had a cv left in on spec before the vacancy came up. If the school was stuck they tend to ring up those on file and get em immediately as the advertising, interviewing, maybe waiting for someone to give notice elsewhere could be a 6 week process. In that case the likelihood would be that the person who was doing the job prior to interview would be left there for that year anyway.


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## Complainer (18 Oct 2008)

April Raine said:


> As far as I know it is. i will check it out suggest you do too and we can post links. Is is true of FAS CE schemes


It's not possible to prove a negative. To prove there there is no legal obligation to interview all staff, I would need to review every piece of legislation in the land. So here goes - see [broken link removed] - there is nothing to say that every candidate has to be interviewed.

I've been involved in recruitment in both public and private sector for more than 20 years. In every recruitment exercise, short-listing is used to ensure that manageable numbers of qualifying candidates are called for interview. There is no legal obligation to interview all candidates - that would be a farce, where candidates are obviously not qualified for the role, or where huge numbers of qualifying applications are received.


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