NHS says they have staff shortages - yet recruit from inside??

[Lunamoon23]

Just that really, my sister has applied for several NHS jobs over the last 6 months, about 10 in total, she hd interviews for 7 of those 10, and 6 out of those 7's feedback was, you were perfect for the job BUT someone within the nhs applied for a transfer so they've got the job, otherwise it would of been you.

I can't make sense of it?
If they're crying out for staff, and the staff shortages make it dangerous for patients as we keep hearing throughout the strikes (albeit amongst other things) why not outsource staff from outside the NHS and actually hire people who wish to work within it.
Where is the logic in transferring staff from one department to another resulting in just another staff shortage elsewhere?

She's given up now and is searching elsewhere.. it isn't the first time I've heard this ether, a friend had a similar experience.

Where is the logic in transferring staff from one department to another resulting in just another staff shortage elsewhere?

Where is the logic in hiring someone who is less capable of the role based solely on where they work currently?

I work in nhs and in my trust the jobs are advertised internally first. Then they go external if no suitable candidate is found

edited to say I've never heard of anyone external who's unsuccessful being told it's gone to an imternal candidate. Makes no sense

It’s just economics!

So someone with more experience than your sister was offered the job? That's not all that unusual in any industry. What was feedback from the 7th interview?
I've been interviewing for NHS roles for many years and recruit both individuals in current NHs posts but also from external sources. What jobs is she applying for? Are the interviews values based, does she structure her answers to evidence her values?
Being unsuccessful for 7 roles suggests there is a mismatch somewhere. Any good recruiter would be willing to expand on feedback I'd she were to ask. What was it that the other person actually demonstrated that she didn't

The dept which hires them genuinely won’t care about the dept which loses them. Each area/ward is like a stand alone unit…..and the hiring dept would rather have someone who knows the systems, etc.

In my board they are short staffed but that doesn’t mean they have empty posts. They’re not allowed to recruit more than the number they have. So if someone leaves, they fill it, but they’re not increasing the number of posts.

Staff shortages in clinical roles, so depends on the type of job she was applying for.

Unless there’s an obvious internal candidate and it’s a secondment, ours are all advertised externally. Last year I applied for 2 roles within the icb and both went to internal candidates (after they called me and begged me to apply for both roles).

It depends what role to a certain extent. Sometimes it’s easier to promote from within then backfill vacancies.
For example, my team have just promoted from within. Someone was stepping up while another member of staff was off sick. They left and other team member has been promoted. Now we can recruit to backfill their hours with someone who (potentially) has less experience, easier to train them in a lower band role than to recruit to the more complex role that she already knows!

This. The person making the hiring decision won't care about overall shortages. They just want the best person for the job, and it's often easier for an internal candidate to hit the ground running.

They do this in civil service - drives me bonkers. There is a hierarchy of role filling which goes something like level transfers, returning secondees, internal people who passed a previous interview then new people. Its because it's an institution and once in it people just move round, they only leave when they retire.

Yes this.

Plus the interview process goes like this. Each candidate gets asked the same questions. Their answers are scored against selection criteria. The candidate who has the highest score gets the job.

Internal candidates know this is how it works and because of their experience they are more likely to meet the selection criteria and come up with the most relevant answers.

I think it hard to get NHS roles without NHS experience. They do give preferences for internal candidates or those with NHS experience.