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Home » HR Processes » Recruitment and Selection » Internal Recruitment » Internal versus External Job Candidate

Internal versus External Job Candidate

The selection of the winning internal or external job candidate is a common dilemma of the internal recruitment process. Many times, the external and the internal final candidates compete for the job position. The HRM Function and the hiring manager have to make a correct decision.

The efficient internal recruitment needs clear rules for the decision about the winning candidate. The organization has to clearly define the condition for the final decision based on the corporate culture and habits inside the organization.

The corporate culture should be the main driver of the final decision. The internal candidate has to be sure about the evaluation not to become de-motivated. The clear rules for the preference of the internal candidate over the external candidate will help to set the clear expectations.

The common rule is the “winner takes it all”. This rule can be applied in the organizations focused on the internal and external competition. The organization makes no difference between internal and external candidates. This approach looks fair to the employees, but it can bring a lot of confusion as the employees feel no preference of the internal and existing employees and they feel no interest of the organization in their own personal career development.

Other organizations provide the internal candidates with some kind of the preference – in time or their competencies. The advantage in time is the simplest one to implement. The HRM Function does not look for the job candidate externally for a defined period of time and the employees in the organization have a chance to be quicker. The advantage in competencies needs to define an ideal competencies profile for the position and the internal candidate does not have to meet all to be a winning candidate. This approach is quite usual as well.

On the opposite side some organizations always prefer internal candidates for job positions and they do not have to compete with the external candidates. This is also very dangerous approach as the external candidate can bring a new knowledge or the approach to the organization.