Internal Job Posting & Transfer Process

Purpose

To give every eligible employee visibility into open positions and a fair, documented process for applying for an internal transfer or promotion — and to give hiring managers and Recruiting/HR a consistent process for handling those applications.

What gets posted

Once a requisition is approved, Recruiting/HR posts it internally (on the internal job board or careers portal) so eligible employees can apply before, or alongside, any external search.

Typically posted:

• Most open positions, including promotional opportunities.

Typically NOT posted (may be filled directly):

• In-line promotions within the same team where a qualified successor is already identified (e.g., a straightforward title-progression move).
• Positions being used to accommodate a Company obligation — for example, returning an employee from an approved leave of absence, or placing an employee displaced from their prior role.
• Temporary positions.
• Positions that are part of a defined rotational/formal training program.
• Other circumstances the organization determines don't warrant posting.

Posting content

Each posting should include:

• Job title and a capsule job description.
• Required education, experience, and skills.
• Department and hiring manager (or a general point of contact if the org prefers not to name the hiring manager directly).
• The internal HR/Recruiting contact for questions.
• The deadline for applications.
• The compensation/salary range, where required by law. Pay-transparency laws requiring a good-faith pay range in job postings are not limited to external listings — several states (for example, Colorado, Illinois, and New York, among others) specifically extend range-disclosure requirements to internal postings, promotions, and transfers, and Colorado in particular also requires internal notice of open positions generally. Requirements vary by state and continue to change; confirm with Legal/Compensation which jurisdictions' rules apply based on where eligible employees are located before finalizing posting content.

Posting duration

Posts typically remain open for a defined minimum period (for example, one to two calendar weeks) to give employees a fair opportunity to see and apply for the role.

Eligibility to apply

To apply for an internally posted position, an employee typically must:

• Be a regular, active employee who has been in their current role for a minimum tenure (commonly around one year), absent a business reason to waive this.
• Be in good standing (not on an active final warning, for example — confirm the organization's own rule).

An employee may apply for a position at a higher, lower, or comparable level to their current role. Organizations may choose to cap the number of simultaneous active internal applications a given employee may have open (for example, no more than two at a time) to keep the process manageable, while still allowing unlimited applications over the course of a year.

Confidentiality and manager notification

• Applications and related documents are kept confidential during the selection process.
• An employee is generally not required to notify their current manager simply to submit an application. However, once the employee is selected for an interview, they should inform their manager, and any offer/acceptance is finalized with the current manager's knowledge (so a start date can be coordinated).

Selection criteria

Selection is based on job-related factors, which may include:

• Performance in current and previous roles.
• Relevant experience, education, and training.
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to take on the position's responsibilities.
• Attendance/reliability record.
• Ability to perform the essential functions of the role, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Procedure

1. Recruiting/HR posts the approved requisition internally.
2. Interested, eligible employees submit an application (and an updated internal profile/resume, if the organization maintains one) by the posted deadline.
3. Recruiting/HR screens applications against the position requirements and presents qualified candidates to the hiring manager.
4. The hiring manager and Recruiting/HR review candidates and select who to interview. (Note: internal candidates are typically given first consideration, but a simultaneous internal-wide or external search may still be run in parallel.)
5. Recruiting/HR notifies selected candidates and schedules interviews; the employee informs their current manager once they are being interviewed.
6. Interviews take place and a selection is made.
7. Recruiting/HR notifies candidates who were not selected.
8. The employee's current manager and the new hiring manager negotiate a transition/ start date — commonly within two weeks of acceptance, absent a valid business reason for a different timeline.
9. HR retains applicable records to support workforce-reporting obligations.