Are the best jobs in Bristol destined to go to internal candidates?

Living in Redland isn't cheap and unless you've got money behind you, you need a half decent job to cover the cost of living but they're few and far between in this economic climate. What's more, a lot of the more sought after vacancies appear to be either confined to internal applications or favour internal candidates. So just what hope do the long term unemployed have of getting a half decent job?

As a journalist, I've found myself in the unfortunate position of facing redundancy three times in as many years. Each time I instantly hit the job websites in preparation for the inevitable and while each time I have secured more work, I have also fallen foul of the company bias to internal applicants. From national magazines to Political Parties, the tasty looking jobs are rarely, really up for grabs and some of the worst culprits are the public institutions in and around Redland.

The worst culprit at the moment appears to be Bristol City Council, where more than half of the jobs currently advertised on their website are for internal applicants only. Then there's BBC Bristol on Whiteladies Road (or rather the BBC as a whole), a public corporation which is duty bound to advertise many of it's vacancies but which, according to many people I know who work there, favours internal candidates over external job seekers. And If you look at the University of Bristol's job list at the moment, you'll find more than half a dozen of the jobs are open to internal applicants only.

Of course there are plenty of reasons for this. If organisations are making redundancies in other departments then they are legally bound to try and find suitable alternative employment within the company and one way of doing this is ensuring they get first dibs on other internal jobs. Then there's the whole trump card of internal candidates having relevant experience - I guess you can't get more relevant than working for the company which has the job vacancy. But this is in danger of being exploited by Old Boys Networks. It also could be seen as a money saving exercise, ie. they don't have to spend on external advertising, simply pop the vacancy details on their website safe in the knowledge they already have a suitor for the job.

From an external applicant point of view (and someone who has tried to crack watertight institutions such as the BBC and secure attractive jobs with Bristol University or Bristol City Council) it's a real uphill struggle. Even when you get through to the interview stage, your heart sinks when you sit down with the fellow candidates and you're the only one without a security card round your neck for the company which has the vacancy. Or when you chase up an application only to be told they didn't even interview anyone, simply changed the structure of the department and filled the role internally. You have to wonder, what is the point in spending hours on an application for a role you have no chance of ever getting?! Pretty soul destroying I tell you.

And I'm not the only one. English graduate Hannah Green, 30, from Redland, has been looking for a job for several months now - since she was made redundant from her copywriting job. She has been for numerous interviews and spends most of her time on job applications but has seen several ideal jobs go to internal candidates. She said: "You put your heart and soul into these applications, you make sure your experience matches the job description and you get excited when the interview goes well but it's the same old story when they tell you they went with an internal applicant who had more company knowledge than you. How are you supposed to get that knowledge when no-one will give you a chance?"

Have you had any similar experiences? Perhaps you're an internal applicant who got a job over external candidates and you feel you thoroughly deserve it? Maybe you're an employer who thinks it's a no brainer and that internal applicants are bound to be better suited? Or do you think that outside talent is essential to help businesses thrive? Perhaps I'm just a sore loser, but when you miss out on jobs you know you could do to another external applicant, it's somehow easier to swallow than when it goes to the interviewer's workmate!