Hiring Nepotism
Long story short:
I student taught at a district the entire year. It was a great experience and most of the teachers liked me. They had an open spot in my department, and I got an interview which went pretty well. The protocol at this district is to then pick a few finalists to do a demo lesson followed by a job offer to the winner.
A short time ago I got notified by one of the teachers that they skipped the demo stage and picked one of the worst candidates because they were a family member of a longtime faculty in another department. The teachers that took time out of class to be on the interview committee to give recommendations are rightfully outraged. In addition, I was only told by the hiring manager that they were picking someone else a few hours after that teacher told me, making it more clear that a cover-up was attempted.
Have any of you guys had a similar experience of not getting hired because of nepotism? How did you guys feel about it?
Personally, I'm disappointed because this is my dream job but I still feel satisfaction in the fact that I wasn't rejected based on ability and I leave with a degree of sympathy by those in the department. I also have had and will have additional interviews over the coming weeks. I will obviously work hard and hopefully have the privilege of landing a job.