Do internal candidates always get the job?

property.advert

A good manager has to balance the needs of the organisation and the motivational needs of the current staff. If current staff are overlooked, then it says a great deal about the state of in house training as any company of a decent size should be able to largely recruit from within unless expanding rapidly.

terra_ferma

property.advert wrote: »

A good manager has to balance the needs of the organisation and the motivational needs of the current staff. If current staff are overlooked, then it says a great deal about the state of in house training as any company of a decent size should be able to largely recruit from within unless expanding rapidly.

Personally I see it as a 50/50 balance internal/external. I worked for organisations that hardly ever recruited internally, and did not have enough steps to allow people to progress. I lost some good staff because of this.
But I've also worked for companies that had mainly recruited internally, even at very senior level, and were largely oblivious about what was happening in the outside world, unable to compete, and are now losing a lot of contracts!
You need to keep you best people and promote them, but you also need fresh ideas, and good understanding of competitors (i.e people with inside knowledge).

leedsfan_3

I went for a job interview and they asked me about internal systems which only someone who worked for them would know, not surprisingly the internal candidate got the job. I would that bias is shown to the internal candidate unless it's a specialised job which the internal candidates aren't qualified for.

WhiteHorse

Many organisations have a clique that keeps out external candidates. The imposition of job criteria that no external candidate could possibly meet is a common trick ("But we did advertise it ...").

Some organisations openly operate what's called a 'friends and family first' policy. I've seen one office where practically everyone in the place was related to each other.

Is that a healthy situation? I don't think so.

leedsfan_3

Good point, furthermore some councils explicitly state in job ads that they consider internal candidates first and only if they don't consider they foot the bill, will they consider external, but of course you are free to apply anyway

terra_ferma

leedsfan wrote: »

Good point, furthermore some councils explicitly state in job ads that they consider internal candidates first and only if they don't consider they foot the bill, will they consider external, but of course you are free to apply anyway

Sometimes this happens when there are possible redundancies and staff at risk take priority. I've never seen this applied to other jobs, but maybe it happens.

jadex

andy46 wrote: »

Probably a silly question but if someone internally applies for the job and meets the criteria for the vacancy then why do companies need to advertise it externally also and probably waste most of those peoples time who are applying for the role externally. To me it makes no sense !!!!

To send a message to the world (and competitors) - we are hiring, we are expanding, watch out!
I know it from first hand experience.

cassie55

Well thanks to all of you who said that I had just as much chance as an internal candidate as I got the job :j

I've been out of work for a year now (I'm in aviation management so an industry that has been hit hard) so am delighted to be back in the workplace.

chivers1977

Well done!!!!

PlutoinCapricorn

It is always good to got some feedback about the end result.

That is wonderful news, and very interesting. It may encourage people who think that there is no chance for them as the job they want has been earmarked for some internal candidate.