Applied for an Internal Position, Interviewed, Told it will go External

philg89

Type your messageI recently applied for a new position in my work place in a different department, it will effectively be a promotion and my ideal role, which I expressed to them. They ask for someone with experience in my role or similar and I'm also a long way through the necessary qualifications for the position and they ask for someone studying this.

I interviewed for the position today and I got some feedback pretty quickly a few hours later saying that I answered well and impressed them with my enthusiasm but I was currently the only internal candidate for the position while they expected more and they "need to advertise the position externally so there is something to compare you to" so the process will take a little longer and I might have to do a second interview with the upper management.

From how I've read this it means I'm not quite good enough for the role and they want to see if there's any better around before giving it to me. Am I likely right?

On the plus side I interviewed with someone from Upper management 18 months ago and they liked me at the time (I scored highest in the suitability test) but said I needed more time at the company. He's also stated explicitly on the job advertisement that they would prefer to promote internally. He has final decision.

Anyway I'm in limbo for the next 2 weeks, just need to try and put it out my mind.

TELLIT01

Interpret it that way if you wish, but the reality is precisely what you were told.  They want to see what other candidates can offer.  They may be able to find somebody who is fully qualified or they feel is simply a better fit with the people in the department.

DontBringBertie

Seems strange they wouldn’t just do the internal/external application process at the same time. Surely it would be more efficient?

philg89

DontBringBertie said:

Seems strange they wouldn’t just do the internal/external application process at the same time. Surely it would be more efficient?

They say that they prefer to promote internally if they can, I guess it can't be great for me though if I was the only one and they decided to look outside the company. Unless it's just policy to have multiple people to look at rather than hand it to me.

bargainbetty

If you were the only applicant, then they probably do want to see more than one person for comparison or have decided they want to see if they can get additional skills or 'new blood'. It doesn't reflect on you specifically, but on their need to see who else is in the market and what skills might be available. They were obviously expecting more internal applicants, so they may wish to talk to an agency to see if they have advice on getting more applicants too. 

You have done what you can. I hope it works out for you.

Sandtree

DontBringBertie said:

Seems strange they wouldn’t just do the internal/external application process at the same time. Surely it would be more efficient?

Depends on how they attract external candidates, whilst many use recruitment agencies that are only "paid on success", some will be paying to advertise on various recruitment boards/linkedin etc and as such may not want to incur that cost before exhausting internal options.

Personally I would read that you have done well but maybe not exceptionally... the one caveat is if this is a brand new role type so people don't really fully know what they actually need, what sort of skills exist out in the market etc 

getmore4less

Internal promotion can result in a chain of moves and sometimes there can be a reluctance to leave a potential void if you are hard to replace and good at the job you currently do.

How would your job be back filled, is there someone obvious who could take over your work.

74jax

I would read it as they think they 'could' find someone better, so will try. If not, the job is yours. 

Andy_L

DontBringBertie said:

Seems strange they wouldn’t just do the internal/external application process at the same time. Surely it would be more efficient?

If they'd got several internal applicants of which one was suitable then external adverts would have been a waste of time/effort/money.
Plus we'd have had someone posting on here moaning about their time being wasted as an external applicant when the job was given internally