HBR published an article ( JR Keller and K. Dlugos their research with 9,000 rejection experiences indicates that internal job applicants who are rejected are twice as likely to leave as those who had not applied. the consequences to the company are severe- loos of productivity, motivation and the cost and time involved in replacing these candidates.
The reasons for dissatisfaction with the interview process:
1. those internal candidates NOT interviewed by the hiring manager were more likely to leave and feel dissatisfied by the rejection.
2. Less likely to leave if an internal candidate was appointed rather than an external one
Learnings from the research:
- organisations should be ‘thoughtful’ about who they want to include in the ‘must interview’ list. An applicant tracking system have the capability to track their high potential or star performers – those they definitely want to retain within the organisation, so whoever is interviewing has this information.
- Consideration should be given to upskilling internal candidates through coaching and mentoring in order to make them ‘ready’ for the next step role. This will result in increased motivation of internal candidates, retention of difficult to recruit candidates, financial savings in recruiting external candidates and losses of unsuccessful internal applicants.
- for the full article see HBR July 22, 2021