Latest / The Internal Move Podcast with Fexingo: Lateral Roles, Internal Transfers, and Staying at Your Company / How to Build Visibility Before You Apply for an Internal Role
Transcript
- Lucas: Here is something I keep hearing from listeners: 'I applied for an internal role I was totally qualified for, and I didn't even get an interview.' And my first question is always the same — did the hiring manager know who you were before you applied? Luna: And nine times out of ten, the answer is no. They submitted through Workday and hoped for the best. Lucas: Exactly. So today I want to talk about something that sounds almost too basic but is backed by real data: building visibility before you apply. There is a 2025 study from the Corporate Executive Board that tracked 1,200 internal moves across companies with more than ten thousand employees. The single biggest predictor of whether an internal candidate got the role — bigger than tenure, bigger than performance ratings, bigger even than a referral from your current boss — was whether the hiring manager could recall a specific positive interaction with that candidate in the six months before the role opened. Luna: So it is not about being the best performer on paper. It is about being memorable in the right way, to the right person. Lucas: Right. And the data is stark. Candidates who had zero name recognition with the hiring manager had an interview conversion rate of just 12 percent. Candidates who had at least one documented interaction — a meeting, a Slack conversation, a project collaboration — that rate jumped to 41 percent. That is more than tripling your odds, and it costs nothing but a little strategic effort. Luna: I think a lot of people assume that because they work at the same company, their reputation speaks for itself. But the CEB data suggests otherwise. Lucas: Exactly. And that assumption is what I call the 'invisible candidate' trap. You stay heads-down, you hit every deadline, you get 'exceeds expectations' on your review — and then you wonder why nobody in the adjacent department knows your name. The company is too big. The hiring manager is too busy. Your resume landing in their inbox is just noise unless they have context for it. Luna: So what does strategic visibility actually look like? Is it just networking more or something more specific? Lucas: It is more specific than general networking. I think of it as a three-step process. Step one: identify the gatekeeper. That is not always the hiring manager. Sometimes it is the person two levels above who actually decides the headcount. Sometimes it is the team lead who will be your peer. You need to know who in that department has influence over hiring decisions. Luna: And how do you figure that out without being creepy? You cannot exactly ask your HR business partner 'who really decides who gets hired?' Lucas: You can ask a different way. You look at the org chart. You see who presents in all-hands meetings for that team. You pay attention to who announces new hires on Slack. Usually, the same name pops up. That is your target. Luna: Okay. Step one is identify. What is step two? Lucas: Step two: create a pattern of helpful interaction. And I mean genuinely helpful, not transactional. You find a reason to collaborate with that person or their team before you want the job. Maybe you share a piece of data from your current project that would be useful to them. Maybe you volunteer for a cross-functional working group they are leading. The key is that the interaction benefits them, not you — at least initially. Luna: That makes sense. And it is actually how I landed my last lateral move, now that I think about it. I was in marketing analytics, and I wanted to move into product strategy. So I started pulling data for the product team's quarterly review — completely unsolicited. I just sent the PM a note saying 'I noticed you were looking for customer retention numbers, here is a dashboard I built.' Six months later, when a role opened on her team, she called me before the requisition was even posted. Lucas: That is the textbook case. You did not apply for that job — you were recruited into it. And that is the whole point. By the time you submit an application, the decision should already be leaning in your favor. Luna: So step three is timing? Lucas: Step three is timing your ask around organizational pain points. Every department has cycles — budget season, planning season, end of quarter crunch. If you apply when the team is overwhelmed and understaffed, your offer of help looks like a lifeline. If you apply when everything is calm, you are just another candidate. The CEB study found that internal candidates who applied within two weeks of a publicly visible team stressor — a missed deadline, a resignation, a surprise project — were 2.7 times more likely to get an offer than those who applied during normal periods. Luna: That is a huge multiplier. But it also requires you to be paying attention to what other teams are going through. Which, again, is not something most people do. Lucas: Right. And that is the opportunity. Most internal candidates are passive. They wait for a job to be posted and then react. The ones who move successfully are active — they build the bridge before they need to cross it. Luna: Before we go further, I want to mention something quick. A handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — that is literally what funds these conversations. If today was useful to you and you want to keep it ad-free, that link helps. Lucas: Yeah, and we really appreciate it. It makes a difference. Luna: Okay, back to visibility. One thing I want to push back on, though — is there a risk of coming across as too eager or opportunistic? Lucas: Absolutely. If you are only reaching out when you want something, people will feel used. That is why step two is key — the interactions have to be genuine and spread out over time. You cannot fake helpfulness. But if you are sincerely curious about what another team does and you offer value, it is hard for that to backfire. Luna: What about the scenario where your current manager finds out you are building visibility elsewhere? That is a real fear for a lot of people. Lucas: Legitimate concern. And you have to weigh the risk. But the CEB data also showed that internal candidates who discussed their career interests with their current manager before applying were 34 percent more likely to get the transfer — because the manager could advocate for them. The worst case is when your manager finds out from someone else. Luna: So the advice is: be transparent with your manager early, before you start networking externally within the company. Lucas: Yes, if you trust them. If you have a toxic manager, that is a different calculus. But in most cases, managers would rather keep you in the company than lose you entirely. And they can open doors you did not know existed. Luna: Let us talk about another piece of the study. You mentioned that tenure and performance ratings were less predictive. Does that mean they do not matter at all? Lucas: They matter, but they are table stakes. They get you past the automated screen. They do not get you the interview. The hiring manager assumes you are competent if you have been there a few years with decent reviews. What they are unsure about is whether you will fit the team culture, whether you can handle the specific challenges of the new role, and whether you are really committed or just bored. Luna: And visibility answers all three of those. If they have worked with you even briefly, they know your style, your resilience, your motivation. Lucas: Exactly. There is a concept from organizational psychology called 'idiosyncrasy credits' — basically, the trust you earn through demonstrated competence and loyalty. Every positive interaction adds to your credit balance. And when you apply for an internal role, you are spending those credits. If you have zero credits, you start at zero trust. Luna: I love that framing. So how long does it realistically take to build enough credits for a lateral move? Lucas: The study suggests a minimum of three to six months of intentional visibility-building before the role opens. That sounds long, but think about it — you are essentially doing a low-stakes audition. And the payoff is enormous. The internal candidates who had built visibility were also retained at higher rates — 73 percent versus 51 percent for those who applied cold. Luna: Because they already had buy-in from the team. It was not a leap of faith. Lucas: Right. And that is the final takeaway I want listeners to hold onto: the internal move does not start with the application. It starts with the reputation you build before the job even exists. So if you are eyeing a role in another department, do not wait for the posting. Start making yourself useful to that team today. Luna: And maybe stop filling out those Workday applications in the dark. That is a good place to stop. Lucas: Yeah. Until next time.