Take annual leave and then there’s no reason to either tell him the reason or lie...

quickymart:

Update, I'm finding it quite hard to get free time to attend interviews. I work regular business hours but I don't really want my manager to know I'm looking outside the company. The hours I work make it hard to attend interviews outside of work hours.

He has said previously if I had an interview outside of my current company we could see about making it work, ie, him letting me attend a job interview. But I'm wondering if there would be any downsides to coming clean with him and telling him what's going on?

• do not tell your boss when interviewing.
  
  
• Do tell boss when the outside company look serious (checking your references.)

kingdragonfly:
If you don't get the job, know that often a "stupid" reason mean the other person got the job. Could be anything from your shoes, whether you like sports, or even that you never had a chance because an internal candidate or bosses friend was always going to get it.

You're so right there. If the applicants are very similar in their quality then it can come down to a very small thing being the deciding factor. I've seen interviewers that prefer clean-shaven over applicants with facial hair and using that to make their final decision (I've seen the reverse too!) Age can be a big factor, with older interviewers preferring older applicants (and vice versa).

Just tell your boss that you need to work flexible hours for a few weeks because one of your kids has a minor health problem or you need to accompany them to an extra curricular activity.

Thanks for the suggestions, all sorted now :)

MurrayM:

 

kingdragonfly:
If you don't get the job, know that often a "stupid" reason mean the other person got the job. Could be anything from your shoes, whether you like sports, or even that you never had a chance because an internal candidate or bosses friend was always going to get it.

 

You're so right there. If the applicants are very similar in their quality then it can come down to a very small thing being the deciding factor. I've seen interviewers that prefer clean-shaven over applicants with facial hair and using that to make their final decision (I've seen the reverse too!) Age can be a big factor, with older interviewers preferring older applicants (and vice versa).

 

I can so relate to this. I applied for a role late last year, recruiter was quite full on, even go as far as looking me up on Linkedin and sending me a message(!) Anyway, the job sounded really good, small company to close to home. Met with the hiring manager twice before Christmas and then again after New Year's. All sounded promising, until the recruiter (eventually) told me they hired the only female who had applied for the role.
Talk about a waste of everyone's time, especially mine. I can't figure out why thy bothered meeting with me and interviewing me three times if they were just going to give the role to the only female. Frustrating, to say the least.

I was still keen to work there however, so tried to keep in touch with the recruiter. Initially she was okay (if slow) responding to my e-mails, then just stopped responding altogether.

kingdragonfly: If you don't get the job, know that often a "stupid" reason mean the other person got the job. Could be anything from your shoes, whether you like sports, or even that you never had a chance because an internal candidate or bosses friend was always going to get it.

I once missed out on an a promotion because my then employer company wanted more females in the SLT and the 'fresh thinking' an external recruitment would bring.  It's legal to do this and at least they were honest about it.  I'm not saying those are stupid reasons, but I was gutted at the time at the time and concerned for the people I was leaving behind.  

Fortunately, I had a standing offer from another employer so I went there.  That turned out to be really good development opportunity for me and, in hindsight, should have been Plan A.  I was better off in the long run as a result, so my old employer (unwittingly) did me a favour.  

My point is: When one door closes, another opens and something that is aggravating at the time may be good for you in the long run.

@Quickymart “All sounded promising, until the recruiter (eventually) told me they hired the only female who had applied for the role.
Talk about a waste of everyone's time, especially mine. I can't figure out why thy bothered meeting with me and interviewing me three times if they were just going to give the role to the only female.”

Quite possibly she was the best candidate - simple as that. You’re sounding as if they had already made up their minds prior to interviewing - but that could easily not be the case - and they made the selection after all interviews were done.

The first thing the recruiter said to me was they didn't believe people like me existed, so I don't quite buy that. I guess another one did though.

Anyway, if they were to approach me again about another role coming up there, I think I may still be interested but I'd think twice about it first.

Having been made redundant a little on 2 months ago now, I'm certainly understanding  how you feel. It's kinda disheartening when applying for jobs advertised on Seek and you get the confirmation email stating 345 other applicants also applied for this position...It's crazy and I can't see how anyone can stand out enough to be noticed in a massive pile up like that. I'm still looking for pretty much any job at the moment and still receiving anywhere from 1-3 rejection emails every 2 or 3 days. Talk about depressing!

maoriboy: It's kinda disheartening when applying for jobs advertised on Seek and you get the confirmation email stating 345 other applicants also applied for this position... It's crazy and I can't see how anyone can stand out enough to be noticed in a massive pile up like that.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/122775792/young-auckland-real-estate-agent-made-90000-last-month

Saw this today and it looked interesting. My Dad used to sell real estate starting in the 1990s, and well into the 2000s. He did pretty well when the market was going all guns blazing - but then he would go several months not selling a thing, and therefore no income. That's what worries me; I still have bills to pay and I guess at the time I decided I would sacrifice a higher income (albeit sporadic) for a smaller, but guaranteed one.

Then again, things in the real estate market are quite different now.