Internal Recruitment Process and Justification

Overview

Internal recruitment provides an alternative to the standard recruitment process and a potential growth opportunity to the university's currently-existing workforce. While the procedural recruitment steps (application collection, applicant review and screening, interview and selection, reference check and offer negotiation) remain the same, the main difference between an internal and standard recruitment is the eligible applicant pool. It is recommended that schools, colleges, and divisions use this strategy thoughtfully.

Acceptable Use Cases

The majority of a school/college/division's recruitment efforts should be open to the general public. There are some instances where internal recruitment is appropriate, including but not limited to: 

• If there is a business/operational need where it would be significantly more advantageous to recruit solely from within the University of Wisconsin-Madison workforce
• If the unit budget cannot fund a new FTE and the school/college/division must hire from within without back-filling
• If the school/college/division has a "Limited" position vacancy which requires a concurrent Faculty or Clinical/CHS track appointment

Contact your Talent Acquisition Specialist when considering an internal recruitment.

Eligible pools

Internal recruitment opportunities are open to current and former University of Wisconsin-Madison employees regardless of job title and/or employment classification. The hiring unit may decide to limit the applicant pool to only employees within the school/college/division. 

Justification Criteria

Hiring managers and the primary recruiter must answer following questions regarding an internal recruitment: 

1. What are the job posting title, official title, and responsibilities for the position?
2. Is there a unique skill set required for this position that can only be found within the university's or the school's/college's/division's workforce?
   1. In considering this question, we encourage that hiring managers and the primary recruiter think beyond general familiarity with university structure/policy. 
3. Why would recruiting from the currently-existing University workforce provide a significant advantage, or be critical to the success, for this position?
   1. If the position is being framed as a promotional opportunity, consider what transferable skills are applicable.
   2. If the desire is to only recruit from the current school/college/division workforce, then the justification should explain why that decision was made. 
4. What efforts will be taken to ensure the applicant pool is as robust as possible?
   1. Think beyond posting on the internal jobs site. For example, consider targeted communication to employees in certain job titles/categories.

Request Approval and Posting Guidelines

To submit an internal recruitment request, send the answers to the above questions to Talent Acquisition at uwjobs@wisc.edu. Depending on the selected Standard Job Description (SJD), Talent Acquisition may need to work with the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Compliance Programs for further approval.

Internal job postings must be live on the internal jobs website for a minimum of seven business days. The Primary Recruiter can extend this deadline based on their recruitment strategy and general discretion. 

Additional Resources

• Recruitment, Assessment, and Selection Policy, UW-5008
• Recruitment Toolkit

Questions?

Contact Talent Acquisition