Conflict of intrest???

[demarcorichie]

Back in June '08 I was promoted to Dir. of Ops at a contract company which I had worked for 3 years. Around Aug. the company lost two major contracts and had to lay off approx. 35 employees myself included. Approx 90% of the employees who were under me went to work for another contract company which had been our competitor in the past. They were hired no prob and the company knew they came from their competitor company. Well about a month after I finally decided to apply, but only at entry level..basically taking two steps down. I was told that I would not be hired because it was a conflict of intrest. Question... How can my hiring be considered a conflict of intrest when they hired approx. 90% of my past workers.

 

[cbg]

Because the employer chose to look at it that way.

There is no legal definition of a conflict of interest. It's whatever the employer choses to think it is. And it can make a difference what job or position you were in; to give you an extreme example, hiring the receptionist of a competitor might not seem a conflict of interest, but hiring the head of research and development might be.