My [34M] family are furious with me because I recused myself from interviewing my own cousin [28F] on a job application.

The firm that I work for is hiring for a position which my cousin applied to. It was my responsibility to interview and pick someone for the position however due to this conflict of interest I asked a coworker to take over reviewing my cousin's application. This is what the guidelines say we must do if we know an applicant at a personal level. You write a reference and pass it onto someone else.

My cousin came in for the interview and didn't get the job. According to my colleague, she didn't do well at the interview. It's normal and it happens to everyone.

Suddenly now I'm getting calls and emails from my parents, uncle and aunt about betraying my family and not helping my cousin in her career and this is going to be the end of the world for her (seriously?) and how she is depressed and it's all my fault.

I'm shocked and don't know what to say, and how to convince them that I did what I must have done in this situation as there wasn't anything I could do. Can you help me figure out how I should talk to them?

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tl;dr: Cousin applied for a job where I work. I passed her on to a coworker to interview her and she didn't get the job. Entire family are furious with me.

Submitted July 30, 2018 at 06:36AM by FarHeat https://ift.tt/2K6HWPX