how to fight for your job in a “hunger games” scenario

by Alison Green on January 2, 2025

I’m quoted in this Bloomberg article about what to do if you need to interview for your own job:

How to Fight for Your Job In a ‘Hunger Games’ Scenario Like at HSBC

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  1. Festively Dressed Earl*

    “Don’t assume your interviewer or boss knows your accomplishments” is good advice. “Here’s a map out of the beehive” would be even better.

    1. Pastor Petty Labelle*

      Yeah if your company makes you interview for your job, do your best but devote your energy to getting out.

      1. Bilateralrope*

        Even if you win, expect management to pull this again.

        So keep looking. Leave on a timetable that suits you, not the management who pulled this in the first place.

        1. Not Tom, Just Petty*

          Even if you win…
          the prize is a job that is…the job you already have at that salary you already have with a benefits package and vacation/sick time that is the lower option of the two companies.
          Whoo Hoo!

    2. CowWhisperer*

      Yup. I worked at a school that downsized from 30 teachers to 2 teachers when the principal was arrested for fraud. We didn’t know how severe the layoffs would be – but clearly layoffs were coming.

      I called my dad – who taught in another district – and his reply was, “I know you don’t want to hear this, but you need to update your resume
      and start looking for a new position when job
      postings start in April. ”

      He was right. The teachers who hoped for the best were laid off in October in a tight job market while the rest of us had left before the next year.

      1. Phony Genius*

        If you don’t mind my asking, how many students ended up in each class after such a huge layoff? Or did they also downsize the student body?

        1. CowWhisperer*

          The fraud was that the student count had been massively inflated. There were
          6 programs (Alternative Ed HS, Adult HS completion, Adult GED, JobCorp GED, Adult ESL, and GM Adult GED/ABE)) each of which had different funding streams located in at least 4 different buildings. Essentially, he changed everyone’s birthdates to make everyone under 21 years of age to receive $6,000 per pupil per year instead of $600 per year max for everyone in the Adult programs (including 3/4 the JobCorp students). He also made all students full time – which was not true for the adult students.

          The actual student body was around 75 students under 21 which was about 50 full time students since most kids didn’t go full time. Two teachers was reasonable – but everything was computer based which didn’t work well since most students were pretty far behind in reading and math.

    3. sometimeswhy*

      Different lead up to the situations but I’ve both interviewed for my own job and have interviewed people for their own jobs once I became a manager because at my company temporary positions are considered external and reclassifications to make the job align with the duties require a full recruitment.

      I treated it like any other interview where I had to sell myself when my job was reclassified and managed to keep it. I’ve also seen other folks assume it was a done deal and lose their positions to other, similarly qualified candidates who treated the interview like an interview. Not even the “already doing the job” advantage made up for the degree of indifference the incumbent displayed for the process.

      1. Not Tom, Just Petty*

        is it indifference or insult?
        I understand the situation, but I know I would be offended if I was told “we are merging and you need to justify your value.”
        I justify my value everyday.
        I hope I live up to my moms’ expectation that “they never see me sweat” and put on my professional face and be the best interviewee I can be.
        But know this, if you want me to fight with my peers to earn the role I already have, if you want me to go full interview mode to end up with no more than I currently have (and depending on the shakedown/breakdown in benefits) probably less, I am going to have no respect for the company. And if you are looking at people in my position who being told, “hey guess what, you don’t deserve the position we hired you for, but we might keep you anyway, if you can prove performatively v your past productivity, that you deserve to be here.
        I’m not attacking you. I’d be frustrated if I were the one throwing the lifeline to a peer who will LOSE HIS JOB if he doesn’t perform well and he just doesn’t try to perform well. But I also can’t be mad at him.

        1. sometimeswhy*

          Indeed. I get it. I maybe shouldn’t have chimed in on this one since the important part is the “Hunger Games” part, not the “interviewing for your own job” part.

          In my case, for instance, I was doing the work of the level above mine, which justified a reclassification. But because of how our staffing procedures work–negotiated by the union–I couldn’t just be promoted and had to interview for the position along with everyone else who applied. If the candidate pool had been exceptional or if I had shown up and not answered any of the questions things would’ve gotten dicey and I would’ve lost all the goodwill of the manager who fought for the higher level position based on my prior performance. I wouldn’t have become unemployed but I might’ve ended up shoved into any available open position that I was qualified for whether I was suited to it or not–also a union contract provision–because my section couldn’t increase its headcount. The thing that would’ve protected me also put the obstacle course in place.

          I also can’t be mad at someone who doesn’t want to engage in the process. It’s a stupid process. But I also can’t override the system without losing my own job so I make sure people know to bring their A game when it happens and advocate for changes in how we do it every time the contract comes up for renewal.

          1. sometimeswhy*

            I’d also add that the obstacle course was there as an anti-cronyism measure and it was very, very much needed. It’s a pain and it didn’t always work but it at least pumps the breaks on people promoting their friends or their con-artist staff who are good at looking like they’re good or otherwise bypassing the process.

      1. Festively Dressed Earl*

        I saw. I’m just envisioning what Alison would have said to someone writing in to AAM about this travesty; that post would start “Get out. Get out, get out, get out.”

        1. I Have RBF*

          Yes, seriously.

          If someone told me I had to re-interview for the job I already had, just to possibly get my salary cut, I would be updating my resume and applying diligently. That’s some serious BS. I’m sure the company thinks it’s “fair”, but it’s actually an insult to all concerned, especially since you know damned well they’ve already picked who they want to keep.

          Hunger Games is the right metaphor for this crap.

          1. Inkognyto*

            Somewhat early in my IT career (3 years), I got a new manager, who was good at BS part, and bad at the managing part.

            The team eventually had a new manager formed specifically for that team with a focus. He redid the job description (with our help).

            Our small team had gone through training to get Microsoft certifications (the really old ones nothing cloud based as it didn’t exist) as this is how long ago it was. 5 for completed set for a specific job. He put the job requirements as having all 5 certifications. We suggested recommended

            Then he told us it was required for us to have them, and we needed to get them in six months, as he told HR that we already had them. One of the team was already getting them but the problem was in the smaller city none of the IT training shops could keep a staff on site to give them out. So we’d have to drive 3+ hours to take them and each one was like a 4 hr test. And they didn’t do them on weekends, had to take vacation days to get a certification that technically we ‘already had’.

            We talked about it as a group and decided worst case we tell HR he lied to them.
            HR never asked us to verify it. The manager couldn’t go back and say we didn’t have them. He talked good, but never followed up. I think he figured we went and got them.
            He also brought us in at the bottom of the pay scale. I had left within a year as I’d was moving across county.
            2 months later another bigger org bought them out and didn’t need a manager over 3 people. They sent him packing and absorbed the team into a bigger one.
            Turns out when we had to track all of our tasks that we did each day and it was sent to an independent company. That was in lead to this company buying us out, they used that data on who to trim.

    5. Carole from Accounts*

      My experiences with HSBC Business Banking from the customer side have been truly insane, I just feel like this whole scenario matches every experience I’ve ever had with their banking. The fact they don’t seem to know who their top performers are and are making everyone fight it out is so on brand.

  2. elizelizeliz*

    I love how the typo (leaving out “for”) in the title of the post really evokes a different kind of hunger games scenario that I could definitely get behind.

    4. Not Tom, Just Petty*

      I was wondering why I was so confused reading the article. Not at all where I thought it was going!

    5. Strive to Excel*

      I play DnD a lot and my thoughts immediately went to “an office building where someone has cursed all the furniture”, which sounds like a really fun urban fantasy adventure actually.

      1. Festively Dressed Earl*

        Don’t give HSBC any more ideas. They’ll start looking for a contract sorcerer.

        1. The CS in CS Lewis stands for Contract Sorcerer*

          I might have to sneak a stint as Contract Sorcerer at HSBC on to my resumé…

  3. ecnaseener*

    I admit I’m a little confused at what makes this scenario special — is there more context that’s not in the article, or are they just spicing up the description of a fairly standard “we’re reorganizing and cutting a lot of positions, so everyone currently in X role has to apply for one of the new roles” situation?

    1. FromCanada*

      I was sort of in this boat once. I was interviewed for my own job – the new owners were looking for reasons to let the team working on that particular client go. I did well and even made it clear that I knew what this was – they didn’t like that but also decided to not let me go, instead they made my life miserable until a couple of months later I was able to leave on my own.

      I’ve also been laid off. I would generally prefer just being laid off – it’s kinder.

      I think what makes it special is that most people won’t believe it’s really an open process. Most decisions will likely already be made – and even if it isn’t completely true, it’s really bad for moral.

    2. Despachito*

      This one is described to be a no-holds-barred competition where you are expected to fight in the mud and get dirty for a slim chance to succeed.

      I don’t know whether this is a standard scenario in such a situation – when my former employer, a very important player in the field, was merged I did not experience that but it is also fair to mention I was a lowly peon back then and perhaps such things are rather a matter of the bigwigs.

      However, this sounds so disgusting that I can imagine a lot of people would not be willing to participate.

    3. Person from the Resume*

      This is not normal in my experience. In layoffs you don’t usually interview for your job. People are laid off based on position; we don’t need any X any longer or X program is being cancelled.

      In this case it sounds like they’re eliminating half of X and they’re interviewing to stay on. also sounds like it’s not entirely merit based, but even if it were merit based since everyone didn’t work closely with you, you need to make your case.

      1. Phony Genius*

        I guess it comes down to whether you’d rather they just decide who gets laid off versus having a chance to explain why you should be retained, if it’s a scenario where they are scheduling a certain number of layoffs from your title.

      2. Antilles*

        That was my read too. What makes it unique is that it’s actual interviews to win your existing job.
        It’s not a specific underperforming part of the business that’s getting dropped. It’s not competing for a promotion or step up. It’s not even a generalized layoff where they look at who’s failed to meet expectations to trim the bottom X%. All of these are fairly normalized, but having to effectively fight off co-workers for the role you currently occupy is rather strange.

      3. ecnaseener*

        It’s not normal or common, but I’ve heard of it before, unless there’s something I’m missing. Maybe I’m just primed for AAM-level weirdness in all things, but when I read “hunger games” I thought it was going to be something wild where people directly knock each other out of the running.

    4. AndersonDarling*

      Financial Banking is a cutthroat field. So it sounds like decisions won’t be made on quantifiable success, but on who you know and what tale can you spin.
      The only people left may be the scummiest of the scum. I don’t know how you can run a business if everyone is backstabbing and dishonest.

    5. MassMatt*

      Usually when there are layoffs, the company has some sort of target for the reduction in force/budget they need to hit, or know that certain departments are no longer aligned with business needs and need cutting. The gist is that most jobs are continuing as they are, and only those those that are being laid off are affected. Those laid off generally don’t get an opportunity to plead their case to stay, they are laid off or apply for jobs elsewhere.

      In this case, everyone is being told you need to reapply for your job in order to keep working here, high is VERY different.

      Employees with good options (in-demand skills, track record of accomplishments etc) are naturally likely to not just re-apply for their current job but apply for other jobs to see if they can get something better. As ever with hiring, it’s a two-way street. HSBC may find this process provides big cost savings, they may also find that they lose a lot of good people and the ones left are very demoralized by the whole experience and likely to move on as soon as they can.

    6. AnotherNerdInBoston*

      I’m somewhat joking here, but, I’m picturing something like Office Space: “So what would you say it is you do here, exactly?”

    7. Lexi Vipond*

      Yes, this doesn’t sound that weird to me, although it’s probably less Hunger Games when the UK public sector does it.

    8. toolate12*

      I’ve been in a slightly similar Hunger Games-style situation. I wonder if one of the distinctions is when the cut in positions is externally imposed on the organization by external factors vs. an internal decision as the best method to cut costs. (?)

  4. Beth*

    Over here in tech, I feel like this has become a normal problem–layoffs and reorgs happen all the time, it’s not unusual for a job hunt to take up to a year, and you just have to figure out how to keep yourself going in the meantime. I hadn’t realized it was getting common in other white-collar fields as well.

    I don’t really understand how workers are supposed to navigate this. Unemployment and severance won’t stretch to cover a year+ of job hunting. Neither will emergency savings (at least, I doubt many people have a year’s worth of living expenses in their emergency fund–I know I’m not paid well enough for that). I hear advice to get a side gig that you can turn into your main gig if you get laid off, but working two jobs just in case I lose one isn’t sustainable for me, and I imagine that’s true for most people. Changing fields also usually makes for a long job hunt. I know I’m not alone in this position. How are other people handling this?

      1. Goldenrod*

        “Yeah. I think we’re all just kind of dying under late-stage capitalism.”

        OMG, yes, THIS. +1000

      2. I Have RBF*

        THIS

        The commodification of even knowledge based and creative work (“Pixel stained peasant wretches”) is some bullshit. We are expected to study, practice and “keep up with the field”, but get no support and are just numbers on a spreadsheet.

        Less than seven years and I get to hope that they haven’t trashed social security.

    2. Nicosloanica*

      I’ve been working a side gig and a main job this past year, and it’s really brutal. I’m burning out much quicker than I thought I would. But I want to try to keep my options open in case my main job disappears or my next job goes bad. I’m surprised this is common advice, it’s a tough way to live.

      1. Your Former Password Resetter*

        It definitely feels like the old “start your own business” advice. Might work for some, but wildly impractical for most people.

    3. MassMatt*

      This isn’t going to work for everyone, but having your own business means you can never be fired or laid off. I took the plunge going independent in finance about 10 years ago after being laid off (having survived several rounds of layoffs over the prior 10+ years). The first years were extremely difficult, but I’m glad I did it, the benefits of being your own boss, owning your clients, and keeping the bulk of what you earn are immense.

      Other than that, if I were in a business where layoffs were common I would save as much as possible, at least 6 months of living expenses. I know that is hard for most people, but the alternative is getting caught with bills and no income or savings to pay them.

      1. Starbuck*

        I always assumed the trade-off for the tech field having lots of layoffs and shorter term job stay expectations was the very high pay that allowed people to make up for gaps between jobs if needed. Is that really not the case anymore? I had classmates who graduated college the same year I did (just over a decade ago) have that habit (work 1.5-2 years, quit or get laid off, do travel/funemployment for several months, then get a new job. I’ve mostly lost touch with them at this point.

        1. NCA*

          I’m in end user support IT for large businesses, and a lot of us are not well paid at all. I only broke above the median US pay last year, and I’m 12 years into my career with regular progression. Up until this current role, the trend was to have their end user support IT via a contract company, and switch the contract company every 3-5 years when someone upstream in management wants to bring in their friend’s project. Mass layoffs, and usually the incoming contract company already had their (lower paid usually) people in place so you couldn’t even reinterview for your own role. My last place, they replaced our team of 15 with two interns and one offshore resource (which I have been advised by former colleagues are VASTLY overwhelmed with the support needs of the business). I’m lucky and have been able to save for these times, but it’s not fantastic.

          1. Starbuck*

            Thanks for the more recent context; the people I knew were more on the coding/development side of things at big Seattle area tech giants so I’m out of date and not knowledgeable at all about other sorts of roles.

        2. Meaningful hats*

          My husband works in tech with 15 years of experience. His pay was always higher than average for our area but not so high that he was socking away tons of money (we also have two medically complicated children whose care takes away a larger portion of our earnings than most other people’s healthcare likely does, but that’s a personal level thing).

          He was laid off in 2022, took nearly a year to find a new role, and had to take a pay cut from his previous job. It’s a rough time in tech right now.

        3. Varthema*

          That might have been the case earlier in the tech boom, but the areas where tech companies congregate have a local COL that’s spiraled up to meet those salaries.

    4. Vincent t adultman*

      “How are other people handling this?”

      Family support if they’re lucky. So many side hustles (even as they suffer physical and mental burnout). Food stamps. The slow, inevitable creep towards death.

    5. Sputnik*

      I’m learning electrical at night at a local technical college. Along with the race to the bottom in terms of job security and compensation, a lot of employers in the industry can’t wait to replace people with AI (I’m also in tech). Why compete with an increasingly large pool of displaced office workers for a career I dont even like in the first place?

    6. DJ Abbott*

      I had several periods between jobs when I was younger, and again during the pandemic. Temporary jobs were good. If you have good office skills, you can usually get long-term temporary jobs of several months. In between, I could usually get unemployment comp. Sometimes the temp jobs can even lead to permanent ones.

      1. Elizabeth West*

        That depends on where you are. I tried that in OldCity after getting fired and the market was so dead even temp agencies barely had anything. That’s the main reason I moved the first time — I needed a larger market. Of course, that was right before Covid. I feel like a lot of industries haven’t quite recovered from that.

    7. Hoobert Heever*

      You either run towards the fire, or you run away from the fire. By that, I mean you either try to get into the fashionable tech of the moment (like AI is now) so everyone will want you, or you get into something so commonly in demand (like SAS or release management) that there are lots of jobs in that field. It also plays into what certs you get – Amazon certs are popular because AWS and agile are popular. Techies know that having a cert doesn’t mean you know anything, but it can help you get the interview where you prove that you do know enough to get hired.

      It’s also a lot about work relationships – which senior management thinks you are valuable enough to keep around, and will they be retained so they can keep you? I’ve been in a position where all my senior managers lost political battles and left the firm. I went from being a rising star to junk. I managed to build new relationships and move into new roles, but my career took a big hit from losing my sponsors.

    8. Elizabeth West*

      Yeah, I can’t work two jobs the way that people generally think of it. I’m neurodivergent in a major way (maybe another one — discovery pending) that makes finding a job difficult at the best of times. I did try it once when I was working in food service. It did not last very long at all.

      I can write outside a full-time job, but it’s easy to work that around a one-job schedule. My brain does not have the bandwidth to deal with that much activity. (This is also why I don’t volunteer but donate instead.)

      I think we’re going to hit a wall soon where none of this is sustainable in any field, and it will be quite disruptive. As in, probably think about stockpiling some stuff.

  5. Juicebox Hero*

    Easy, have a job like mine that no one else wants. I was the only one who applied for it, and attempts to teach anyone even the basics, which was required starting in 2020 so that reporting and stuff could be done on schedule if I got sick and had to quarantine, have been met with the person having urgent business of their own to attend to for the rest of time.

    2. Juicebox Hero*

      Property tax collection. It’s a mixture of customer service and tedious bookkeeping. So not only do you get snarled at by people who don’t wanna and think they shouldn’t haveta pay taxes; you get to figure out why you’re 3 cents off in a several hundred thousand dollar deposit, find it, and correct it, before you can send it to the bank. It’s delightful XD

      1. Reluctant Mezzo*

        But some county commissioner will think about automating it to save money. Ask me how I know this…

    3. ABC123*

      Exactly. There are plenty of jobs open but they really aren’t for everyone and require a certain type of person (Emergency Services, DOD/IC, child welfare, direct support etc)

  6. Goldenrod*

    This is brutal. I’ve seen reasonably nice office cultures turn vicious overnight, once the idea of layoffs started floating around. And that’s just ordinary layoffs!

    I would get out of there as soon as possible, because I would hate being a part of a work culture like this.

  7. Generic Name*

    I appreciate that Alison pointed out that the superstars (who they presumably want to retain) will likely not have patience for this crap and will move on rather than dance for their job.

    1. AnotherNerdInBoston*

      That’s the way it always works. Then 1 or 2 or 3 years on, they’re weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth: “Why can’t we keep anybody?”

    1. Jan Levinson Gould*

      The absolute worst interview I ever had was with HSBC. Extremely disorganized and everyone I met seemed miserable. The open office space was depressing. I sent a “thanks for your time, but no thanks” email afterwards.

  9. Hotdog not dog*

    Been there, done that. I “lost” to another manager who actually used “Hotdog has a spouse and child, while I don’t have so much as a houseplant, so I can devote all my time to Toxic, Inc.” (and yes, it was a bank.) The official explanation I was given for the decision was, in fact, “Other Manager seems to be more dedicated, so we’re retaining her as manager. In light of your outstanding performance these last 20+ years, we’d like to offer you an administrative role at a lower salary. You’ll report to Other Manager, and essentially do the exact same work you’re doing now, but without the title or salary.”
    Shockingly, I declined and word on the street following the consolidation was that everyone was salty about me declining the admin role because now Other Manager had to do her own work.
    I definitely won by losing that one!

    1. Bast*

      Wow… 20+ years and they expected you to be thankful for THAT treatment? If that’s how they treated a loyal employee of that many years, I hate to think of how they treated new employees.

    2. I Have RBF*

      The official explanation I was given for the decision was, in fact, “Other Manager seems to be more dedicated, so we’re retaining her as manager. In light of your outstanding performance these last 20+ years, we’d like to offer you an administrative role at a lower salary. You’ll report to Other Manager, and essentially do the exact same work you’re doing now, but without the title or salary.”

      Oh, hell no. Do the same job, for less pay? After 20 years? Working for the jackass who screwed you out of your job? Hard pass. They must have thought you were a sucker.

  10. RedinSC*

    Maybe I’m jaded, but like others who have worked in the tech sector, this seems pretty normal when there’s an acquisition or take over, etc.

    But also, in many other fields, (higher ed, government, etc) you won’t necessarily get promoted into another position, they might have to do an external recruitment, so you’re also interviewing for your promotion. You may or may not get it.

  11. Strive to Excel*

    Is it just me or is this a way to avoid the WARN act? Are people who lose their jobs in this going to get regular layoff benefits? Did they get sufficient notice? I’m sure there’s a whole gaggle of lawyers who’ve already reviewed this but it feels like a way to skate around your requirements when you’re laying off half your workforce.

    1. Starbuck*

      Yeah, I would have to assume if you lose the interview and don’t get the job – that’s a layoff/position elimination and not a firing, right?

      1. Media Monkey*

        TUPE is a bit different (ask me how i know…). It basically protects people who work under contract and guarantees you the same level job at the same salary in the new company in the event that the contract transfers to a different company. created with the best of intentions so that i couldn’t come in and undercut your current office cleaning contract by 20% and then tell your current cleaners that they could come to work for me for 20% lower salary.
        The wording means that it also applies to other contract workers (like marketing/ media/ advertising agencies). So if your agency loses an account, you can be moved with it to the other agency. Who may well not need you as they’ve earmarked someone who already works there for your role and will possibly lay you off. but your redundancy pay will be payable by the new agency rather than the old one.

  12. Rebeck*

    This is just a standard restructure process isn’t it? Every university and half the government departments in Australia have done this in the last two years.

  13. MsM*

    Unrelated, but I want the OP from the “boss organizes a poker game to determine bonuses” link in the related content section to write in, just to confirm she and her husband have finally gotten two years of little to no drama.

  14. Vincent t adultman*

    I’ve honestly heard of this happening quite a lot in acquisitions (or maybe it’s more common in retail?). So my advice is that if you’re working somewhere that is unlucky enough to be bought out by another company and they make everyone do this (instead of just outright laying off a bunch of people), then send that resume out to as many external roles as you can. Sure, go ahead and apply for your own current job but the focus should be on getting as far away from the new trainwreck that is Acquired ‘R Us. It’s not like it’ll get better if they “hire” you back for the job you were already doing–you’ll just be doing your job plus the jobs of 3 of your colleagues who were axed.

  15. Not The Earliest Bird*

    Ex Boss once went to a leadership retreat and came back with the idea that he needed to “challenge” us all by making us interview again for our existing jobs. It did not go over well, and served to basically kill all morale. He is no longer with the company, but most of the rest of us are.

  16. Ddj*

    I work in government (in Canada if it matters), and because of various union / collective agreement rules and “transparency” rules, if you are on contract, you can expect to re-interview for the job you are already doing, even if you are doing great at it. As well, in the government panel interviews, your answers are scored on a rubric, you *must* say something in order to get points for it. Even if it is your direct supervisor as one of the interviewers, it is standard advice that you have to assume they know nothing about you, your skills, abilities, job tasks etc. Each interviewer writes down your answers and score that on paper so that it can be pulled up and verified if there is ever a grievance. However, this only works one way; it is still your supervisor, so you have to be extra careful about over-stating your job responsibilities because that still counts against you!

  17. JD*

    As someone who’s been through a work Hunger Games situation (I worked for a large student loan company when student loan reform legislation eliminated our ability to originate student loans, which was the vast majority of our business), my best advice is to get out now. It’s honestly not worth the damage the experience will do to your soul, and it’s extremely likely that the company will make everything as miserable as possible for a while so that people voluntarily exit, as that’s a lot cheaper than paying severance. It took me and my colleagues way too long to realize that’s what was happening to us. But the worst is seeing your warm and friendly office turn into Lord of the Flies. I can personally attest to how much it sucks to have to smile and try to be professional while transitioning your workload to someone who treated you horribly in the fray. It’s not an experience I would wish on anyone. Get out, get out, get out.

  18. Imagination*

    That actually does sound delightful and I think I would like doing it. The bookkeeping part, not so much the customer service part, but I’m used to customer service.

  19. Captain dddd-cccc-ddWdd*

    We went through a “interview for your own job” exercise, although it wasn’t presented as such, but described as getting an understanding of what we currently do and how it all fits together. I recognised the interview-for-your-own-job nature though and treated it as such – talked about all the stuff I’d achieved, how I would want to take things forward strategically in the future, the current issues and how I could help solve them, etc. My colleague didn’t seem to realise this as she said she talked in great depth about all the little details of what she did etc. Ultimately I was kept and she was laid off. I won the battle but lost the war though in retrospect, as the job became very difficult and draining whereas she found a great new opportunity… it was a better time in the economy then (the issues causing the layoffs were localised to that company rather than “economy” generally) and I would have been able to find a new, better role rather than the lateral move I ended up taking a year later.

  20. r..*

    I realize that this is of course a very privileged position, but I’ve never had any lack of offers (of the “if you ever consider a change, lets meet for lunch” type) from elsewhere even when I am not actively looking.

    Consequently, if you force me to interview for a job, it will likely not be for my own, current job; in all likelihood, I will be interviewing elsewhere. Forcing people to interview for their own jobs tends to do horrible things to a company’s culture, and your reward for “winning” is the “privilege” of having to deal with the low-trust wasteland the process tends to leave behind.

    Interviewing is a two-way street, and in such a situation the present employer is literally the candidate of last resort for me. I mean, why would I even bother unless you were willing to offer a significantly better deal than before the … festivities?

    I do have some amusing memories from such shenanigans, though, like one employer asking why I didn’t even bother with setting up an interview, noting that they would be prepared to make significant concessions to retain me. I simply noted that the process was already threatening to undo the last years of my work of forming a cohesive unit out of a bunch of very disillisioned people, and that they would almost certainly lose much of the new talent I was able to bring in. Therefore the main concession I’d be most after would be the head of the COO and their pet hatchetwielder (aka the persons responsible for the festivities), because that’d be the only thing I could realistically think of that could avert those risks; but since this isn’t a realistic ask there’d be no point in negotiating for it.

    In the end I left for a much better opportunity, the hatchetwielder lasted for 2 months before leaving after a (reportedly quite loud) spat with the COO, who a couple years later was encouraged to take early retirement.

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