Can they say this?

Emmzi

In HR speak it means "we have someone lined up."

dickydonkin

I think that many internal roles have to be advertised as a matter of company protocol - that said though, I suspect that many such roles already have a 'preferred candidate' lined up.

At least your company were open about it.

dizzyrascal

I wish this happened more often. It makes a refreshing change and at least you know that if you don't get the job it was not because of anything you said or did. There is nothing worse than going through all the work to get a perfect application in, the waiting to hear if you were shortlisted, then focusing all your efforts on interview prep, then attending the interview, thinking it went ok, feeling hopeful etc. To then find out that your were probably never going to get it anyway is soul destroying. At least this way you go in with your eyes open, and as another poster said, you might influence or impress someone on the interview panel for the future.
From an applicant's point of view, I think this makes the process very fair.

Sambucus_Nigra

ohreally wrote: »

Unless you are aware of this specific employers intentions, you can't possibly state this with certainty.

They would only ever put this if they had someone lined up - it's a way of telling candidates not to bother unless they think they are going to trounce the internal candidate by miles. It sometimes happens...

mountainofdebt

I once worked in a place where they were advertising for a couple of team leaders and all the places were filled, bar one.....and strangely enough they had one person left to interview.

KiKi

ohreally wrote: »

Unless you are aware of this specific employers intentions, you can't possibly state this with certainty.

That's what 'preferred candidate' means - regardless of the fact that I don't know the company. It's a phrase commonly used in recruitment.