Internal Job postings (IJPs) - Advantages and Disadvantages

Understanding the Concept of Internal Job Posting
Often called IJP, Internal Job Posting is a human resource (HR) strategy which enables the hiring of existing employees for a new or open position within the organisation. The recruited employees may move to parallel roles or get promoted to senior job roles, thereby allowing more authority to them. However, with higher positions comes more responsibility, so the hiring process is often a little tough. Having said that, internal job postings are also applicable to those who are looking to switch their career paths and explore something new by being in the same level of authority. With the IJP concept in place, it definitely becomes easier for organisations to retain their employees while giving them the career exposure they are looking for.
Advantages of Internal Job Posting
1. Time-effective
One of the foremost advantages of IJP is that it reduces the hiring time. Many a time, for an open position, it takes close to 1-1.5 months to hire a candidate. First comes the shortlisting of the candidates who match the requirements, then the interview process, which finally leads to giving them an offer. It doesn’t stop here - organisations have to wait for the candidate to confirm their joining date. After all, every company has a notice period to be served, which may range from 15 days to 2 months. With internal recruitment, these steps can be circumvented, thus filling up the position faster.
2. No Need for Orientation
Well, the HR department loves to conduct orientation sessions. Explaining all the rules and regulations, policies, and so on that, the organisation is bound with, can be monotonous. Internal recruitment doesn’t require any orientation as the employees are already familiar with all of this, thereby reducing the time needed to on-board an employee in a new position. Of course, he/she will require an overview of the new job responsibilities but that is taken care of by the department.
3. Always Within the Budget
Whether in a top position or an executive one, there’s always a set budget that HRs need to abide by while hiring a candidate. Sure, a little can be negotiated but if it doesn’t match the expectations of the hired candidate, they decline the offer. This elongates the hiring process since the effort has to be put again and again. But, with the concept of internal job postings, not only can you hire faster but also well within your budget. The employee gets a promotion and a raise in pay scale, making him/her content as well. In addition to this, the amount spent on job boards, resume databases, and similar portals are saved.
Challenges associated with Internal Job Posting
1. Internal Conflict
Shifting an employee from their current team to a different one might cause internal conflicts. It can be between the employee’s current team manager and the HR or even between the manager and the employee. Along with this, if an existing team member is expecting a promotion, it may cause a bigger issue. For example, if you are a copywriter expecting a promotion and because of IJP, a member of the content team is shifted to your team with promotion, it will obviously be disappointing. However, such conflicts can be tackled with sensible measures.
2. May Not be Respected
Keeping the previous point in mind, the employee may not be respected in the new team; existing members can have a feeling that they know better about the job. Even though the internally recruited employee may have higher skills, this is quite a common issue that most managers and team leads have to deal with. Eventually, this discrimination fades away but the initial days can be a little challenging.
3. Losing Out on Better Opportunities
Internal job postings and recruitment can make the employee’s career growth slow. While it does help in exploring new verticals, sometimes, employees, to prove their loyalty to the company often decline better offers. Though this is entirely at the sole discretion of the employee, losing out on better opportunities with a higher pay scale can be disheartening. At the same time, it also affects the turnaround time of the employee, affecting their performance.
However, even with the possibilities of such situations coming up, internal job posting remains a preferred option as it helps the employees to explore a new domain which might be difficult in the case of switching jobs.