Dear all
I regret the necessity for this posting, but the subject is of significant
concern to all those looking for a job, or changing jobs. This is the
propensity of employers nowadays to avoid paying interview expenses. I
have noticed this particularly over the last few years.
One employer that I have found a particular problem is the NHS. Typically,
this reluctance to pay expenses is never mentioned in writing. You only
tend to find out (verbally, of course) after an interview; or,
alternatively, when one is shortlisted for an interview and you have the
foresight to ask. When train fares are involved, it’s best these days to
ascertain whether expenses are payable; since if they are not, the expense
can be considerable.
I suspect that there are other reasons involved than the purely financial.
Whatever they may be, it certainly has implications for equal
opportunities policies. As the advertising says, join the NHS and make a
difference. It doesn’t say; if you’re a librarian, we won’t pay your
expenses. Yet if you are clinical staff, there seems to be a different
approach, if the circulars on the Department of Health website are
anything to go by. And if you are an internal candidate, my understanding
is that mileage allowance would be paid in these circumstances. And of
course, if you are clinical staff and attending a conference in London,
you can be confident that the NHS would foot the bill for train fares-
even at peak rates. I am aware of such a case- this is fact, not fiction.
Maybe for librarians it’s “Join the team and make a difference- just don’t
use public transport, because we won’t pay you”. I don’t know, but I would
like to know. As for those people in library work who may be out of work-
will the Jobcentre fund these expenses? I wouldn’t put money on it- after
all, you can’t expect the Jobcentre’s budget to fund the NHS recruitment
budget- can you?
I would appreciate if anyone who knows of any official, or unofficial,
advice the NHS has circulated to avoid paying interview expenses, to let
me know. I realise it is a sensitive subject, so I don’t expect people to
post to the list in general- although if they did, they would be doing all
of us a public service.
Thank you all.
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