Internal job posting (IJP) | Meaning, Benefits and Challenges

What is Internal Job Posting ?

IJP refers to “internal job posting.” When a job vacancy opens, the companies or the hiring teams always try to post it internally, and the main motive to do this is to determine whether there are internal candidates who can fill the position or not. Before any job posting, the hiring team ensures that a Job Description(JD) is prepared after cross-checking the duties that the hired candidates will have to perform with the team in need and the team manager in order to fill the position with the right candidate.

Once the required data is collected by the hiring team, the job description is prepared, and the hiring team posts the vacant position on the company website or informs the employees about the IJP (Internal Job Posting) via email. Companies can use a lot of different methods for internal recruitment, and it also depends on the size of the company. It can be done through promotions, transfers, employee referrals, hiring former employees, and advertising or posting the job vacancy within the company workplace. To recruit internally, the hiring team first arranges a meeting with the hiring team and the team managers to make sure that they have collected and validated the data for job requirements. Before posting any job internally or externally, the hiring team should always create a good job description.

IJPs sometimes can create conflicts between co-workers, and to avoid the conflicts that can be there due to IJPs, there are various parameters that are used by the companies to determine the employee’s performance, and only on the basis of those parameters are the employees given the chance to apply for the IJP. Every company has different parameters for every role or position, and the two most common factors that help companies identify their employees’ performance and the company’s success are KPI and KRA.

KPIs means “Key Performance Indicators,” and it is a performance measure that is used by the company to evaluate and measure the progress of a company or its employees, and KPIs tell how the company is performing.

KRA means “Key Result Area,” and it is a qualitative measure that is used by companies to set the metrics for a particular role. It assists businesses in ensuring that employees understand their job roles and responsibilities. KRAs include the tasks and work of a particular position or the person or entity they’re written for within an organization.

Benefits of Internal Job Posting (IJP)

• Avoids Lengthy Process: Whenever there is any internal hiring, the candidate that is found eligible for the role does not have to go through a lengthy screening process and multiple interview rounds, but on the basis of the employee’s performance, the hiring manager can evaluate the candidate, or they can also conduct the assessment tests to make sure that he or she is the right person to be hired for that job role.
• Saves Time: Whenever there is an internal job posting, it helps the hiring team and company to save a lot of time as it is very easy for the hiring team to post the jobs internally, and it can be easily done by conducting a meeting with the team leads or the managers or by simply putting a message in the company employees’ common group. There is also no need to conduct the induction sessions as the employees are already aware of the company’s terms and conditions. Companies or hiring teams are not required to wait for hired candidates to confirm their joining dates.
• Cost Effective: IJPs help companies save a lot of money that usually occurs in the recruitment process, mostly in posting jobs externally using various job-posting websites or applications.
• Improves Performance: Existing employees always try to perform well in their work when the company conducts IJPs regularly.
• Motivates Employees: Internal job posting is always helpful for the employee’s career growth, and it also keeps them satisfied and motivated towards their work.
• Improves Loyalty: IJPs improve the employee’s loyalty towards the company; for example, if the employee receives a better offer and designation from the company in exchange for their good work, it will undoubtedly build unconditional respect and loyalty for the company; additionally, when a company understands their employee’s abilities and skills and offers him a better package and designation, that employee will forever be in debt to that company.
• Possibility of Employee Interaction: The promoted employees might already be having some interaction with the new team members, which is never possible in the case of external hiring.

Challenges of  Internal Job Posting (IJP)

While conducting IJPs, the hiring team or the employer might have to face various challenges, and they are as follows:

• Internal Conflicts: There might be internal conflicts between the employees, such as shifting an employee from one team to a different team or from one role to a different role, and if one of the existing employees is expecting a promotion but a different one is promoted, then it can be conflicting as it might be disappointing for the other employees who applied for the IJP or were expecting to be promoted.
• Vacant Position: When there is an internal movement of employees from one role to another, their old position becomes vacant, and the company might suffer a loss, and it also creates a gap in that existing workforce. Also, the hiring team has to make efforts to find the right candidate for that role, which can be difficult in some of the positions where the candidates are fewer, and this might incur more cost and be more time-consuming sometimes.
• Not suitable for New Job Roles: Internal hiring is not the best option all the time because if any job role is new to the business, the old employees might not be fully aware of the role, and sometimes relying only on internal hiring might cost the company by missing the opportunity to get a better candidate with more skills, better ideas, and expertise in that role.
• Dissatisfaction amongst Employees: In IJPs, multiple candidates might be selected, and if there are fewer positions, it might be very difficult for the hiring team to select the best candidate. There might be conflicting decisions sometimes, and this may be one of the main causes of the increase in resignations. It may also impact the company’s reviews and reputation if the employee leaves on a bad note.
• No inflow of New Blood: When a company starts depending more on internal hiring, it might affect the company’s culture as if there will be no new ideas; the company culture might remain as it is, and also the employees get very comfortable with the company environment and they get very habitual in working the same way, so when they get a higher position, they do not perform and they face a lot of problems in finding the causes of the business inefficiencies, as well as the external employee, faces fewer problems because of the continuous work environment change, and this is more problematic in leadership positions.
  

IJPs are a very important part of all the recruitment processes, but depending too much on internal recruitment only might impact the company’s growth sometimes as it also vacates the old positions, which are sometimes more important and critical than the current positions. Companies should always use both internal and external recruitment channels. However, internal hires are found to be more successful when compared to external hires, but it sometimes impacts the company’s growth and culture.