I have been told something by HR about a promotion / recruitment board I recently passed that is perplexing me more than a little.

Although I passed the board (in fact I topped the board of all candidates from my department), there are no vacancies at that grade in my department. So, I’ve been waiting 4 months for a post to come up in another department.

I’ve made a few enquiries with HR about how merit lists are moving and this was when a curve ball got thrown at me. I was advised that other departments were to give priority to candidates within their own departments. When I asked for clarification I was advised that a candidate could have performed worse than me across the two exams and competency based interview but still be appointed ahead of me because they were already working in the recruiting department?

The fact you work in my department has never been a factor in recruitment and promotion here. It is strictly based on an exam and a competency based interview. External candidates are routinely placed ahead of internal candidates.

Have any of you heard of this policy before? Only been in the civil service about 8 years but neither I nor any of my colleagues have ever heard of this. Seems to throw the merit principle out the window?