During the coronavirus pandemic, hiring hasn’t stopped, but it’s more difficult since interviewing candidates face-to-face is on hold. 

Sure, an interview can be done by Zoom, but a video link doesn’t give the employer as good a sense of the candidate’s persona, presence, charisma, and gravitas – those intangibles that can help determine whether the person will be effective in the job or not. 

Hiring is always risky, but hiring someone you’ve never met in person increases the uncertainty and risk a bit. 

Sometimes this creates an opportunity for internal candidates who are seeking more responsibility with their current employer.   

Traditionally internal candidates often face a couple of hurdles:  the employer has trouble envisioning them in the new job (“Yes, she does A, B, and C  well, but can she do D, E, and F well?”), or the employer thinks there’s value in getting an “outside, fresh face.” 

This desire for “new” can be reinforced by the fact that an employer knows not only the internal candidate’s strengths, but also their weaknesses, while an assessment of an impressive outsider typically focuses on their perceived strengths, and minimizes or ignores possible or yet-to-be-identified weaknesses. 

On the other hand, since internal candidates are a known quantity, you already know whether they have the persona and other attributes desired in the new job.  And since, with in-person interviews impossible, you know less than normal about the external candidates, now’s the time when it makes sense to give greater consideration to internal candidates, and be more willing than before to promote them to bigger jobs. 

So, candidates:  Now’s a great time to throw your hat in the ring for a new job at your current organization. 

And to employers: Now’s the time to be more willing to giving an internal candidate the opportunity to contribute more to your organization.

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