How to Beat Internal Hiring

Prove you're the better external hire.

By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP

An excerpt from Forbes on executive hiring:

“…external candidates succeed by doing one thing exceptionally well: they present a unique, compelling value proposition that goes beyond familiarity and culture fit… positioning themselves as stand-out candidates… high-impact leaders ready to meet an organization’s modern challenges.”

“To beat an internal candidate, external contenders must go beyond expectations. They need to showcase their qualifications while bringing something new to the table—a fresh perspective, specialized expertise or innovative solutions.”

Yup.

My clients edge out internal candidates all the time. If you’ve read my article about Blah Blah Blah then you know that many internal candidates believe that they are the heirs apparent, and therefore believe that they can land the job by talking about passion, love of the company, loyalty, and hard work. This “proof” doesn’t work very well, because if all candidates are using these same reasons why they should be hired, so they all cancel each other out.

Them cancelling each other out is a great reason to show through impact and leadership strengths why the company should hire you, the external candidate.

While the internal candidate is tough to beat—they know the company culture, they have theoretically been loyal, there is no big expense in promoting them, and they have grown partnerships and relationships that are key to the company—maybe they are doing just enough to get paid, they don’t love their job, and maybe they weren’t the best hire.

So, you have an edge as an outside candidate. As the article says, you bring a fresh perspective and updated marketplace information. As the external candidate you need to be able to demonstrate and prove that you’re a “high-impact leader ready to meet an organization’s modern challenges.”

To be considered before an internal candidate, you show that you understand and identify with the company’s needs or objectives or mission, and you show how you have successfully addressed the company’s challenges before and made past companies better.

What makes you, the external candidate, the more attractive option? Impact, impact, and impact, baby!

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Better job. More pay. More control.

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