QUESTION: I was interviewed for a particular project, but after joining, I was assigned another.
FACT: The project to which you’ve been assigned has been accorded a higher priority; or the project for which you were interviewed stands cancelled; or, there’s no vacant position in that project.
Employees with less experience or those fresh out of college are treated as generalist’. They are suitable for most projects. The panel interviews them based on generic skills and their project is decided only after they join the organization. Senior people are interviewed against a specific role in a specific project. If there is any change in the plan or the scope of the project before the senior candidate joins, he would be informed so as to help him revisit his decision of joining.
The issue of being assigned a project other than the one for which a candidate had been interviewed, arises in a few cases. Some people are interviewed for a specific project, but because there’s a long notice period, they may take quite some time to join, by which time they could find themselves in another project. (Normally, a company does its best to keep the person in the same project for which he has been _interviewed, but there is no guarantee.) People can also be placed in other projects if the new project requirement is ‘urgent. Then there’s the fact of a project-closing down, or its scope being reduced, thereby leaving no vacancy to fill.
If a company feels that you’re a generalist, then it may not inform you beforehand about the change in plan, since it thinks your skills are still useful for other projects. Most of the new hires are fine with this decision, but some might get upset about an unanticipated project.
A company should be careful in its communication during the interview process. If a person is hired for a specific project and he finds himself in a different one—that, too, not in line with his career plan—then it’s natural that he would be upset. It is important for the company to ask the selected candidate beforehand whether he would agree to join a different project. But if a company has followed an interview process where it has fisted out the projects, and then taken the preference of the candidate without giving him any assurance, then it is fair for it to place him where it feels he would be most suitable. In a good organization, the hiring manager should be in touch with a candidate throughout the process; it will help the latter by assuring him that he’s joining the project that he had intended to.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE EMPLOYEE? You should be clear as to whether you are joining the company for a particular project or any project. If it is the former case, then you should be in touch with your manager all through the recruitment process. After the induction, if you come to know that the project in which you were interested is not the one you have been given, you should try to understand the new project in detail. You could ask yourself: ‘What would have happened if the project had closed down after I joined? In the end it is your decision—to work on a new project or to walk out of the company. You should understand that in a dynamic world, things can happen which are beyond the control of your hiring manager,
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE MANAGER? It is your responsibility to make sure that you communicate clearly with the candidate, especially about hiring him for a specific project. It is a good practice to update the new employee on events happening within the company which could possibly impact his position. It is not good to take a stand of let the candidates join and somehow we will convince them”. On an entirely different note, if you are moving out and will no longer be the hiring manager, make sure that HR does its job of Informing the person accordingly. This is more important for middle and senior positions.
