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The only external applicant

5 replies

LuckyLuckyWoman · 19/07/2019 21:06

What are the chances of being successful when you're the only external applicant being interviewed?

OP posts:
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Blankspace4 · 20/07/2019 13:43

In my experience, sadly, poor. Employers do tend to take ‘the easy route’ and hire internally. Do you know whether the prior person doing the job left the company or moved on internally? If the latter, taking on an external candidate will result in +1 to headcount, in this current economic environment many are cutting back and not expanding.

However, when you go to interview you need to be confident and speak about ‘when’ you are in the role, not ‘if’, and definitely do your research on the company. You’ll need to illustrate you can do the job markedly better than any of the internal applicants.

Best of luck!!!

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RedSheep73 · 20/07/2019 13:56

Depends. I went for a job recently and was one of several internal candidates, and they hired the external. Can't really complain as she did have more relevant experience. Sometimes they want to stick with who they know, other times they want a fresh face. All you can do is your best at interview and see what happens.

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Teddybear45 · 20/07/2019 13:59

Depends. In my industry you only progress external clients to interview when the internal ones are shit, so you would stand a much better chance. Especially if you come up with really killer examples that highlight how your specific experience / skill-set would benefit them.

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tigerseye10 · 20/07/2019 14:02

Depends on industry. In mine, we can advertise internally only, so we wouldn't waste money advertising externally if we had someone ready for promotion within the organisation. In that case, the externals definitely have an advantage. I think externals generally do - it's easy to hide weaknesses at interview, whereas with internal candidates, an opinion has already been formed.

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Gemster19 · 20/07/2019 14:14

I'm with @Teddybear45 and @tigerseye10 - if I've advertised externally, it's generally because I don't believe there's anyone internal who is right for the job

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