New Employee Promoted Over Longer Term Employees

Bola has been working for a non-profit agency for a year. The job posting, along with job postings for the same job title since that time, stated that a BSc degree was required. Bola has a BSc degree.

Since she was hired, another person who did not have a BSc degree was hired for the same job title. This person only has an HND degree and has been with the agency approximately four months.

This person has less education, experience, and qualifications than her and other employees in the agency, however this person was recently promoted to a supervisor position.

There was no notice that a supervisor position was opening and apparently no other employees were considered.

The supervisor who held the position prior to this was promoted to a newly created position. I know the employer does not have to post position openings, but can they legally hire and promote someone who is less qualified than other workers? And let's assume that the other workers do not have any negative performance issues.

Fast answer: Yes. Companies can hire whomever they wish and promote the same way. The only exceptions to this involve licensing (you can't hire a surgeon who isn't a licensed doctor!) or if you have specific contracts, as in a union situation. But, let's break down each of your questions.

First, since there is an assumption that the other workers don't have any negative performance issues, and that's fair, but I'm going to ask you to assume that the decision makers at the agency are rational people.

So, let's go in with those two assumptions. Here are your questions:

Why did they hire someone who wasn't ”qualified”? I put qualified in quotes because we all have a strange vision of what “qualified” means. Often it's a list in a job description that includes required degrees or certificates. But, since this job requires a “BSc” degree, and not, a BSc in chemical engineering, it's highly possible that there isn't a specific skill that is needed with a degree.

Often people use “degree” as a “proxy” for general characteristics, like being mature enough to stick to something, having the ability to write, and an understanding of how to do research.

But, if you don't have the degree, they have to dig a little deeper to find out if you can do those things. So, it's entirely possible that this new hire has all those skills, and just lacks the degree.

Why was there no notice given of an open position? Well, as stated, no other people were considered for this role, so why post? If the hiring manager already knew who she wanted in the role it would have been a waste of everyone's time to post the job, go through applications, and interview people who never, ever, had a chance at the job.

If you were applying from outside, wouldn't you be ticked off that you'd taken a day off work (or if you were unemployed, gotten your hopes up and paid for a babysitter) so you can interview for a job you never had a chance of getting?