Retention & Exit
Internal Mobility Interview
An internal mobility interview is a conversation with an employee who wants, or could benefit from, moving to another role, team or location within the company. It helps you understand their motivation, check the match with the target role, and plan the transition in a way that is fair to the employee, the current team and the receiving team. Done well, it keeps talent inside the company instead of losing it to an outside employer.
15 questions
When to use this template
- When an employee asks about moving to another team, role or site.
- When an internal vacancy appears and a good candidate within the company has applied or been suggested.
- During a career conversation, when the employee has expressed a wish to explore other areas of the business.
Questions to ask
Motivation for the move
- 01What is prompting you to think about a move now?
- 02What attracts you to the role or team you have in mind?
- 03What are you hoping to gain from the move that you cannot find in your current role?
Skills and fit
- 04Which of your current skills and experiences would carry over best to the new role?
- 05What would you need to learn, and how would you go about it?
- 06What do you know about the new team and how it works?
Impact on the current role
- 07What is the best timing for you to move, given your current responsibilities?
- 08What handover would you need to do to leave your current team in good shape?
- 09Who in your current team would you want to involve in this discussion?
Expectations for the new role
- 10What do you expect from the first three months in the new role?
- 11What kind of support would you need from your new manager?
- 12How do you see this move fitting into your longer-term career?
Next steps
- 13Who else do you think we should talk to, inside or outside the company?
- 14Is there anything that worries you about the move?
- 15What would a good outcome of this conversation look like for you?
Tips for a useful conversation
- Treat the conversation as an opportunity for the employee, not as a threat to the current team.
- Be clear about the process: who decides, what the steps are and when the person will hear back.
- Involve the current and the receiving manager, in the order and at the pace the employee is comfortable with.
- Plan a handover and, if possible, a trial period or shadowing before the move is final.
- Give honest feedback if the answer is not now, with concrete steps for what would change it.
Mistakes to avoid
- Blocking a move to keep a good performer in a team, which often ends in a resignation instead.
- Letting the employee's manager learn about the wish from someone else.
- Moving someone without a handover, so that both teams are disrupted.
- Treating internal candidates less seriously than external ones, or leaving them without feedback.
Let Passisto People hold these conversations
The AI agent holds structured voice conversations with your employees and gives managers a clear report. People decide what happens next.