Research: Why Rejected Internal Candidates End Up Quitting

In most cases, internal job applicants who are rejected end up quitting: research indicates they are nearly two times as likely to leave their organizations compared to those who were either hired for an internal job or had not applied for a new job at all. The lost productivity and talent, combined with the costs of finding replacements for these employees, is often substantial. So, what might make it more likely that an internal candidate will stick around? First, internal candidates who were rejected after interviewing with the hiring manager were half as likely to exit as those rejected earlier in the process. Second, a rejected candidate’s likelihood of leaving was cut in half if they were passed over in favor of an internal candidate rather than an external candidate.