Posted by Brian McCullough
You of course know the phrase about the grass being greener on the other side of the fence.
Sometimes, though, the grass is plenty green on THIS side.
I thought of that this weekend when perusing some job search survey data. I’ve posted before about playing the odds in your job search. And you have to figure that a good percentage of job openings are filled internally.
According to the data I saw from the folks who used to do the Hudson Employment Index:
73% of managers say their company typically looks at the current employee base first when conducting a job search before considering any other candidates.
This of course makes sense. Searching for new employees can be time consuming and expensive for an employer. They stand to save themselves a lot of hassle if they can just promote from within.
Internal hires also have the obvious benefit of being a known quantity. If you’ve already proven yourself as a good worker, then you’re a safer bet than a stranger.
So the very first thing you should do when beginning a job search is to look around your current company or organization. If your current employer has openings (and if you can stand to stay with the same employer) you have to figure a lateral move is a pretty safe bet.
After all, you’re more likely to be considered and the process won’t be a long or complicated.
Especially in a tight job market like this, the safe bet is to consider the options on your side of the fence before jumping out into the wilds of a job search.
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