Dear Boss,
I have many questions about applying to internal jobs, something I have never done. At my current company, a new role has come up that is a dream job for me. But it is also a reach, as it would be a bit of a career change. Knowing this job might open up, I’ve been making efforts to get to know the hiring manager, and I think we have a good relationship. But how do I actually navigate applying?
I know it’s best practice not to tell your manager when you are job hunting, but what about when the job you’re applying for is an internal one? My manager is fair and a nice person, but I still don’t want them to know I’m looking to move on.
Would it be beneficial for me to reach out to the hiring manager before the job is posted, or should I wait and apply through the usual process once the posting is live? I’m inclined to contact them first, as we have a solid, though relatively new, rapport.
If I tell the hiring manager discreetly about my interest in the job, can I ask them to keep my interest under wraps? Or is that weird and not done? I’ve expressed a lot of interest in their work, so I don’t think it will be a massive surprise that I want to apply.
I believe I have a better chance at a stretch job at a company where I already work and have a strong reputation, compared to applying for a stretch job externally. However, is it worth the risk of upsetting my current manager or damaging my reputation here for an internal opportunity? If I want to apply for a job that’s a reach, would it be less risky to do it outside my company?
My preference is to get this internal job, but if I don’t, I’ll be applying outside the company eventually, although I’m in no huge rush. I think the smart thing to do would be to start my external job hunt at the same time as internally applying, so if my manager is upset or my reputation is dinged, I’ll hopefully have other options.
Honestly, I’m feeling super overwhelmed just thinking about a full-on job hunt with everything else going on in my life! But do I just need to buckle down and go for it?
Yes, you should go for it!
Different companies have different practices when it comes to internal job applications. Some will notify your current manager if you apply for a job elsewhere in the organization or require that you notify them by a certain point in the process. Ideally, they won’t mandate that until you’ve advanced further in the process — there’s no point in broaching it with your manager if you’re not even going to get an interview — but you’ll want to find out how your particular company handles it. If you don’t see anything about it in your company’s internal materials (such as in an employee handbook or on an intranet), you can ask HR to explain to you how it works.
That said, even if your employer doesn’t have formal requirements about notifying your boss by a particular point in the hiring process, managers will often talk to each other informally. If the person hiring for the open position doesn’t realize that you don’t want your boss tipped off, there’s a risk that she’ll mention it (to ask their opinion of your work, for example, or even more casually (“Oh, Jane was interested in the X job!”) without realizing you wouldn’t want her to). So it’s smart to talk with the hiring manager early on — even before you apply — and say something like, “I haven’t talked to my manager about this yet, and I don’t want to alarm her if it turns out I don’t move forward in the process. Would it be okay to keep my application confidential for now, and if I do advance we can talk about when and how I should loop her in?”
Most managers will understand why you’d prefer to keep it quiet until things have progressed further. It’s not so much that you’d damage your reputation with your current boss (assuming she’s a reasonable person), but if she thinks you’re actively looking to move into a different type of work than you’re doing now, the worry is that she might stop giving you high-profile projects, invest less in your development, or otherwise do any of things that can come with viewing an employee as a flight risk.
To some extent, these risks can be smaller when you’re applying for an internal job than when you’re applying externally; many organizations would rather have you stay with the company, even if on a different team, than lose you to a competitor, but the degree to which that’s true will depend heavily on what type of manager you have.
That leads right to your concern about whether it’s worth the risk. Generally, it is! You’re right that you have a better chance of getting a stretch job within a company where you’re already known and valued. And even if your manager is alarmed at the prospect of losing you, you can frame the news as, “I love my current job but I’m really interested in X and wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t throw my hat in the ring.”
Moreover, as an internal candidate, you have the ability to ask the hiring manager for a sense of whether you would be a plausible candidate before you apply. Who knows, she might end up telling you that she’s committed to hiring someone with a qualification you don’t currently have, which could save you the trouble of applying (and the worry about your current boss), or she might be strongly encouraging. That conversation can have other benefits, too, like you might hear that she doesn’t think this position is quite right for you but she expects a stronger match for your skills will open up later this year.
It’s useful, too, to be aware of other policies your employer might have around internal moves. For example, some will require that you’ve worked in your current job for at least a year, or that you’re “in good standing” (like that you’ve achieved a certain minimum rating in your last performance evaluation).
But don’t hold yourself back just out of fear of how your boss might take the news. Everyone moves on from their jobs eventually, and good companies want to give employees ways to progress in their careers without losing them to another company entirely.
Find even more career advice from Alison Green on her website, Ask a Manager. Got a question for her? Email [email protected] (and read our submission terms here).