What are best practices for hiring internally?

Internal hiring is a great way to shift proven talent between roles in your company, keep talent engaged, and build cross-functional strengths and relationships.

Promotion, the most common example of Internal hiring, is a great way to preserve experience and leverage it to improve the organization while also bringing in new talent.

Another way is to use internal hiring is to take internal candidates on one team and add them to other teams.

Advantages to Internal Hiring

Four advantages for internal hiring are:

Institutional Knowledge: Internal candidates are already familiar with the overall culture and operation of the team and the company’s values as a whole.

Existing Relationships: Internal candidates likely have already built up a good rapport with other employees. Once they move to another team, the trust is already there.

Reduced Time for Training: Internal candidates need only the training that is specific to the role, rather that the full complement of operational training that a new hire requires.

Proven ability: Internal candidates have already demonstrated their aptitudes and work ethic.

By filling a new position with an internal hire, you can feel more confident that you’re making a good hiring decision.

Things to Remember When Hiring Internally

Hiring internally can be a great way to meet your organization’s needs, but there are a few things to remember before you try to fill a position with an internal candidate.

Make sure to post the position where it’s simultaneously visible to both internal and external candidates.

Your circumstances may vary, but many employers, such as federal organizations and organizations with collective bargaining or voluntary affirmative action policies, have regulations that require them to post all positions externally and internally. Check with your HR Director or an equivalent manager to determine your organization’s established guidelines, and where to post listing internally and externally.

If an internal candidate applies, check with them before talking to their manager. If the applicant hasn’t yet alerted their manager, you could start a very tense situation by letting them know.

Don’t recruit internally without talking to a candidate’s manager. Managers might be unhappy if you try to poach their resources without asking! Talk to both the current and future managers before interviewing the candidate to assess the needs and concerns of both managers.