Full time job creation is flat to negative according to the latest job report, and there are always inherent risks in jumping to a new employer. These reasons, among others, are focusing employees on new job opportunities with their current employers. Employers, for their part, facing economic uncertainty, few means for raising wages, and difficulty holding the line on benefit costs often view filling jobs internally lowers risk of hiring mistakes, improves work force relations, provides the justification for a pay increase.
The confluence of these circumstances should make filling a job internally a slam dunk. But it often does not. Amy Gallo, writing for the Harvard Business Review, makes points to similar I have observed over my career.
The single most common failing I find is the internal applicants fail to prepare for their interviews effectively when they should approach it as if they were an external applicant. This goes hand-in-hand with the second most common error: over-weighting the value of internal or institutional knowledge. If the job an internal applicant wants is not even remotely adjacent to their current role, they should seriously downgrade the value of institutional knowledge. Finally, internal applicants almost always believe they have an explicit edge over external candidates in the selection process. This is rarely true, especially for cool and competitive jobs.
HR managers would be well served to advise internal applicants of the best