Ok. Long story but please read. Not sure where to go from here…

This applies to me and a friend… We have both been working for an agency which I will not name…we have been trying to become “journeymen” in the trade we are in. The training went like this…

Step 1…”assistant”…this is a two year program. He and I BOTH completed this…he did 4 1/2 years and I did 6 years as an assistant… Step 2…”intermediate”…this is a 3 year program…after two years, you’re considered “trained” and are allowed to do the job…you get your full pay and title of “journeyman” after the 3rd year…

Now…the agency posted a “journeyman” position which we both applied to. They posted it internally and externally…we both applied to both postings and we both got referred for both postings…

Here’s the dilemma….we found out they have been conducting interviews this whole week…problem is, neither of us were scheduled for an interview. It all just says “referred”…after asking a few questions to higher ups, with the “know”…we found out that the word is that were “not qualified” and aren’t going to be called for an interview…

Theyre saying that we can’t move up in the intermediate program, to a journeyman-early…BUT, they have already established the precedence of moving people up early. As I stated, the assistant program is two years….at our other facility, they moved up a girl who did 1 year and 2 months of that program…and here they moved up 4 people who only did 3 months of that same 2 year program. Moved them up to intermediates, after not fully completing the assistant program. Another kicker…2 of the last 4 they moved up just so happened to be children of supervisors….

So my question is this….is there anything we can do to complain about us not even getting an interview for this position? My issue is that the posting NEVER mentioned you had to be a journeyman….in fact, on the screen out portion, it actually had options that you could select that mentioned “I am currently in a training program learning to do……” Not only that, I also feel like the term “journeyman” is subjective, to say the least….and I feel that if the excessive training her have received in excess of the required 2 years isn’t “sufficient” then that should speak even louder about their training program….

What do you guys think? Kinda trying to figure out the next move here…they have a reputation of hiring “buddies” and “relatives” but I feel we have a strong case for discrimination and nepotism, here….