Internal applicants NHS

[Hello1290]

Does anyone know why some NHS vacancies are advertised for internal applicants only. Might it be because there is already someone in mind for the role ?

Maybe they need someone with current experience of that department/project.

Maybe redundancies/redeployment? So there’s no extra budget for salary but you can be seconded from your existing role.

If I had to guess I would say it's because the new job requires certain skills that are only held by people who already work there. Can't think what though, sorry!

It's better than the phoney job adverts that are open to all but they have no intention of giving it to anyone from outside. Those are just a complete waste of time for the poor applicants from outside who think they are in with a chance. They should always clearly state whether an internal candidate is being interviewed for the position in my opinion.

Our policy is to advertise all vacancies internally first - unless it's a hard to fill/v senior post. I think it's a bit questionable from an equalities point of view.

@Hello1290

Does anyone know why some NHS vacancies are advertised for internal applicants only. Might it be because there is already someone in mind for the role ?

Yes, exactly that. One (or more) strong internal candidates. It’s normally for when a more senior role opens up - for example a nurse with management responsibilities and it’s anticipated members of the current nursing team will apply.

Is it a fixed term post as i could understand why if it's short term they'd look internal first?

Thanks everyone for your thoughts @MoonahStone yes it's fixed term but I still don't understand why they would look internally first for fixed term as once the fixed term contract ended the employee would be out of a job. Am I missing something.

Internal means they can probably be seconded to the new interim role and return to their own job, or something v similar, at the end of the contract. Means they can attract a higher skilled candidate sometimes that way.

It could be as a result of restructure

Ah yes I see now they may want an internal candidate as they want someone who already has skills/knowledge associated with the organization. It isn't advertised as a secondment though, it fixed term and that is what is puzzling me

I'm not sure if it's a restructure as it says new role but I guess it could still be a new role within a restructure.

It doesn't have to be advertised as a secondment but once someone applies they can ask for a secondment to be considered.

Internal only nhs jobs could be due to having team restructures else where meaning staff are being redeployed, or they have strong candidates

If it’s fixed term, it’s almost certainly a secondment with no extra salary funding. So they can only take people whose salary is already part of their budget. We had a couple of these for a big IT project where they want staff to act as “champions” - you do three months or so of stakeholder meetings, usability testing etc, then go back to your own job and get the rest of your team on board. They aren’t going to pay some random from a different trust to do that.

If it is a normal job and they just want to recruit a specific person, the usual technique is to advertise as normal but only have the submission site open for an hour or two (with your candidate primed to submit their application immediately it opens).

When I worked in the NHS the process was, at risk candidates first, if no one is suitable, internal applicants then if no one suitable external.

This was because of service changes / redesign and wanting to move staff to other positions rather than make them redundant.

Thanks - it's beginning to make sense. Internal only plus fixed term equals secondment it seems which makes sense as it's unlikely anyone would leave a permanent role to go fixed term without a job to return to.