Applying for a job is an act of vulnerability, courage, and hope—emotions my colleagues and I try to honor with each resumé and cover letter we review. Those feelings are amplified for internal candidates, where the outcome—no matter what it is—often feels both more personal and more public. With that in mind, here are a few tips we routinely share with internal candidates as they consider entering a senior administrator or Head of School search.

1. Maintain confidentiality. External candidates usually enter a search knowing that their candidacy is confidential at least through the semi-finalist stage. We encourage internal candidates, too, to take advantage of this confidentiality by not sharing their candidacy with members of the school community other than their supervisor. No one wins when a community is divided in its support for one internal candidate over another or for an internal candidate as opposed to an external candidate. Plus, the fewer people you talk to about your candidacy, the fewer people you will need to update if the search doesn’t go your way.
2. Adopt a teaching mindset. While there can be great benefits to an internal candidate’s familiarity within a community, remember that you are known in a particular light, through the lens of your current role. Hiring managers and search committees can map all their hopes and dreams onto the somewhat-blank-slate of an external candidate, but it is harder for them to imagine an internal candidate, whom they know well, in a different role. Accordingly, we encourage you to adopt a teaching mindset, carefully considering how to teach the community who you are and who you can be, apart from your current role. What can you explain and reveal about your background and previous experience? How will you lead in a novel situation? What perspective do you bring that you don’t have the chance to share on a daily basis in your current job? The hiring manager and search committee may be tempted to assume they already know all there is to know about you. It’s incumbent on you to counter this narrative, teaching the committee the fullness of your experience.
3. Adopt a learning mindset. As much as you know about your school, there are surely aspects of the new role that are unfamiliar to you, so you’ll still want to double down on preparation. As you research, study the school through the eyes of an outsider and through the lens of the job to which you are applying. While your familiarity with the school is a gift, you don’t want to take anything for granted.
4. Rehearse emotions. We can never experience the full weight of an emotion until we live through it, but it is helpful to rehearse the possible emotions of your candidacy, softening the eventual magnitude of those lived emotions at least a bit. Early in the search, you will need to embrace the awkwardness of introducing yourself to your supervisor in writing and then participating in formal interviews with people you may have known for years. As the search moves forward, there are even bigger emotions to anticipate: How will you feel if you get the job, and the nature of your relationships with your current colleagues changes? What if the job instead goes to a candidate whom you perceive as less qualified? How will it feel if the search ends for you during the confidential phase versus during the public phase? Might you discover through the search that you are ready and eager for the next step and find yourself embarking on a full job search? Anticipating and answering some of these questions in advance can play a helpful role in processing the emotions that are likely to come as the search nears its end.
5. We all have fans, and we all have detractors. An obvious benefit of entering a search as an internal candidate is that you know the organization—its strengths, challenges, and quirks—better than any external candidate. In return, the community knows you better than they will know any external candidate. No doubt you have great champions. You may also have detractors, who are still upset by something you said or did last year…or ten years ago. The more you demonstrate self-awareness, humility, and growth as you navigate the search, the more you can take control of some of these less flattering or outdated narratives.
6. Accept the decision with grace. Whether you are offered the job or not, the community will watch your reaction to that news quite closely. Are you generous in how you talk about the other candidates? Did you accept the news with grace and dignity? Are you going out of your way to set up the appointee (if not you) for success, or are you leaving that person to their own devices? Are you grumbling behind closed doors? (Those doors often have leaks.) How you react if you don’t get the job can either hurt you or help you as you apply for the next job at your own school or elsewhere. Your reaction is about today, but more importantly, it is about tomorrow. These small moments can speak loudly of your professionalism, self-awareness, humility, and perspective.

The emotional roller coaster of any search is significant, and that’s particularly true for internal candidates. Whether the search ends in a new job (hooray!) or in increased self-awareness, new relationships, and capacity for growth, the rewards can be significant. At CS&A, we take tremendous care in guiding search committees and internal candidates through the vicissitudes of an internal candidacy. Please reach out if we can be helpful to you as embark on this process.