When you’re looking to fill an open job position, you might not be too worried about whether the winning candidate will be an internal or an external applicant, but perhaps you should be.
That’s because rejected internal job seekers can become disgruntled and take action against your organization, which could include the initiation of a discrimination lawsuit motivated by revenge.
The good news, however, is that you can manage the process in a manner that makes it less likely that a rejected internal applicant will seek revenge.
Consider a recent study conducted by researchers at Cornell University and Pennsylvania State University. They examined the rejection experiences of 9,000 employees of a Fortune 100 company.
The researchers learned that rejected internal job candidates are two times as likely to leave their organizations as are people who were either hired for an internal job or never sought a promotion to begin with.
According to the study, people often apply for internal jobs not because they think they’re qualified for the position, but because they want a reading on potential internal job opportunities for the future. That means rejected job candidates who are told they have a bright future in the organization are more likely to stick around.
In addition, internal job seekers who are at least interviewed by the hiring manager are half as likely to leave the organization as are those rejected earlier in the process. That’s because they think they were pretty close to being promoted, and it’s only a matter of time before they are.
Try to insist that internal job candidates are afforded the opportunity to interview with the hiring manager, even if they’re unlikely to actually get the job – assuming you want them to stick around.
(From the August 13, 2021, issue of HR Managers Legal Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)