I've been knocked back at the initial shortlisting process for a job.

It listed as ESSENTIAL that you had held a driving licence for 1 year, and DESIRABLE that it has no more than 3 points.

As the application volume has been high, they've made the desirable criteria essential.

My driving licence as 3 points printed on it (3 penalty points documented on it as SP30 dated 05/12/2004) which i now believe to be null and void.

However they've used the fact that because they are physically still written on my licence to fail me as shortlisting.

I'm now going to have to needlessly return my licence to the DVLA to get a fresh one without the points history on it and wait for them to re advertise.

This sounds wrong to me.

Sounds unfair, but I really doubt that will be the real reason you failed to make the short list.

Sounds fair enough to me – points are on your licence and you've made no effort to get them off.

Folk have been rejected for much much more arbitrary reasons, and don't even find out.

if they want to keep the number of interviews down they'll just invent other criteria to exclude people and you may fall foul of those.

If it wasn't that method of shortlisting it would be something else. For me the first shortlisting is done based on whether your CV arrives in a white or brown envelope.

LHS, which ones win? Are the white envelope people making the effort to present well or are they wasteful and inefficient as the brown ones would have been cheaper?

As others have eluded to – it doesn't have to be & rarely is fair

pretty much like everything else in life really

LHS, which ones win?

I alternate every recruitment binge – has to be fair! 😉

There's also the 50/50 method where you simply take half the CVs & put them straight in the bin
The 50% that end up in the bin were unlucky – & you don't want unlucky people in the business

LOLs at uplink

edited: probably not my best post ever

I work on a top down rather than bottom up principle. If I have got time to interview say 4 or 5 candidates I will just pick the 4 or 5 most promising and then double check the essential/ desirable criteria have been met. More might have got the essential/desirable qualities and qualifications but that does not guarantee them an interview. Sadly I've never been in a position of having a field of candidate so large that another person has had to filter before they get to me. I guess it always pays to make sure there are no reasons not to be considered and you are not asking "sifters" to make judgements on things like how long points last. The bin is always the easy option.