How does one apply for one's own job?

September 24, 2017 8:39 AM

For reasons that aren't clear to me and probably don't matter, there's a job opening in my department that is a salary band higher than my current job but in nearly every other regard is the same job I'm doing now. I've been encouraged to apply. How do?

I've never applied for a job this internal (other departments in the same company, yes, but not the same department with the same title, working for the same people) before, so I'm not sure what my resume should emphasise or what I should put in my cover letter. The resume I got this job with is probably inappropriate as I was changing fields at the time and my resume was skills-based, but I can probably churn out a more standard one with not much effort. The cover letter is what stymies me at the best of times, though, and I'm not sure how to approach a letter that will be viewed by the same people I already work with every day and who have already given me consistently good reviews for the past several years. They already know what I've accomplished because they were right there while I was doing it.

I'm probably way beanplating this, but I'm socially awkward and have trouble in areas where the rules are unclear. I don't want to fuck this opportunity up by doing a thing that "everyone knows" you shouldn't do. I am bad at office politics and am the opposite of smooth.

posted by soren_lorensen to Work & Money (8 answers total)

relax, this is just an institutional hoop they have to make you jump to justify a raise. your current salary band and title probably only allows x% a year for merit because HR says so, and they already think you deserve more or they wouldn't encourage you to apply, this let's them end run all that by just moving you up a band in a "new" job. this is just how its done in places with rigid pay scales and job descriptions. you probably have a wide margin for not screwing this up.

reorient the resume to match the specific job you are applying for, and emphasize good outcomes as well as skills that you will continue to bring to the "new" job. make it crazy specific to "new" job so that if they have to do the dance of comparing you with external applicants for HR, you make it as easy as possible for the person rubber-stamping your raise to say "yup, soren is by far the most qualified applicant because they already know about Weird Internal Process W and have a track record completing Critical Work Product in record time"

use the cover letter to reiterate your wins in your current position, and remind the person reviewing that you are the best positioned person to address Pressing Departmental Issue ABC through your work in "new" job. also maybe throw in a line about how you've shown potential in subject area Z and how you could develop that more in "new" job to bring additional value to your department, etc. keep it brief, one paragraph, two max, you're fine.
posted by slow graffiti at 9:03 AM on September 24, 2017 [6 favorites]

I sort of did this -- it wasn't exactly the same job but I'd done a heck of a lot of the things it entailed in my current job, for the exact same office. Basically I used the same tone as I would have if I'd been "outside," stating what I'd done for them in the past: "For the last X years I have successfully performed many of the same tasks for Office Y that are required for this position: I did Z, AA, BB, CC" etc. I concluded with some junk about how I believe this made me uniquely qualified for this position and gave me confidence I could master the additional tasks required for the position with a very small learning curve, (or something like that) and that I was looking forward to meeting with them soon to discuss it. I didn't mention anything about past performance reviews or anything like that, figuring, as you noted, they don't need to have that pointed out; I was trying to state proudly what I could do without being braggy. Just concentrate on highlighting the tasks you've done for them, and how that's totally relevant to the new job.

Basically, you wanna say, Hey! I already do this junk for you, and you seem to like it! but using the same formal, jobseek language that you would use if applying for some other job in another company. It can feel a little discouraging, because you're being made to jump through these hoops when, hey, they probably already know if they want you for the job or not. But, I told myself it's always good practice to redo a resume and cover letter -- you never know when you might need it for reals.
posted by JanetLand at 9:03 AM on September 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

In my field the key is to make your internal resume focused on the quantifiable results you've achieved in meeting the company and program goals.

So if your job was manager of widget quality, you wouldn't write "responsible for overseeing widget quality." You'd write something like:

2015-2017:
* implemented team widget quality program that reduced errors from 9% in 2015 to 4% in 2017
* achieved 0% recall rate for widgets produced by my team over last 18 months
* promoted and trained 3 new team leads in widget quality assurance processes

These go on your resume but should be highlighted in the cover letter. Otherwise the cover letter can be a simple "I'm submitting my resume for the X role and I'm excited to be taking the next step in my career growth at WidgetCo. In my time at WidgetCo, I've... " and then show the list.
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:11 AM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Talk to your boss first so they know you're doing it. If this is as similar to what you're doing now it shouldn't be a big deal, but some bosses get really riled by not being informed first. Plus they'll find out once you formally apply, anyway.
posted by winna at 9:23 AM on September 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Make a list of what you've accomplished and how well you've accomplished it. Don't be shy. Be ready to show them just how fantastic you are.
posted by theora55 at 10:41 AM on September 24, 2017

I've had to do this twice. I approached it with a goal of just being very clear and direct in the letter and CV; I figured that since it was internal they had probably already made up their minds, so what I needed to do was provide clear and direct specifics that would be needed for them to justify the promotion to HR.

I gave an intro paragraph (the usual about applying for the position, etc), then the rest of the letter was a summary of how I fit all of the requirements. The specifics will vary for your situation; I did it by basically breaking out the position description into key bullet points and saying how I met them. If it asks for X years of experience, or certain skills, show how you meet or exceed those requirements, even if it seems unnecessary since everyone knows you.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:51 AM on September 24, 2017

You treat it as seriously as you would if you were applying externally and it just so happens that you have stellar experience in every aspect of the new position. It's especially important to keep in mind if your current manager/coworkers are interviewing you- don't assume they know everything about your work/you as a worker. They may actually not know or remember. Just do what you would do if you were applying externally, especially if there's any sort of rubic based evaluation system.
posted by TheLateGreatAbrahamLincoln at 12:03 PM on September 24, 2017 [3 favorites]

Have you had a review for your current job yet? You could use your review as an outline to help you figure out what to put down as accomplishments.
posted by vignettist at 1:32 PM on September 24, 2017