Cancer victim's banking job rejection reveals harsh reality
If you're applying for a job in banking now, be prepared to either hear nothing at all, or to go through multiple interviews involving detailed preparatory work only to find that the job goes to a friend of colleague of the line manager instead.
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This was the experience of Adeline Willis, formerly a senior member of the risk and compliance team at NatWest.
Willis lost her NatWest job in 2020 after having surgery for bowel cancer. She sued the bank at the time, and she's currently suing NatWest again for seeming to approach her for a £200k ($271k) job last year, which she says was withdrawn when the bank realized who she was. NatWest denies any wrongdoing.
It turns out this wasn't Willis' only awkward job-seeking experience, though.
Also last year, Willis says she was contacted on LinkedIn by a recruiter from another bank (not NatWest). He also said he had a senior banking job she'd be fine for. She discussed the job with the recruiter and was invited to an interview with the CEO.
By the time that interview occurred, though, a new COO had been anointed at the hiring bank. Willis therefore interviewed with the CEO and the new COO for an hour. They both liked her and invited her back for a second interview a month later, this time with the COO and his direct report. For this second interview, Willis says she was required to provide detailed answers to "competency scenario" questions.
Again it went well. Willis was one of only two candidates and was optimistic she'd get the job. However, nearly two weeks' later, she found that the other candidate had been hired instead.
Shortly after that, Willis says she discovered that the preferred candidate was already known to the COO. He/she had worked with the new COO in his/her previous role, and the two of them had also both worked with the director of operations at the bank she'd interviewed with.
47-year-old Willis' is still, therefore, looking for a full-time job. Finding one is not easy. Willis says there are plenty of contract roles on offer, but not much else.
"People are less bothered when you're contracting," she told us previously. "It's about your delivery, and I have a long history of delivering!" That doesn't make much difference when you're up against former colleagues of the person filling the role.
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