Organizations often fill jobs through a combination of internal moves (e.g., promotions and transfers) and external hires. While internal hires are generally expected to benefit from their firm-specific experience upon entering new roles, this study examines how that experience may also create challenges—particularly in how managers handle internal transitions compared to external ones. While organizational policies often request that managers handle job transitions consistently across all new hires, I draw on Mintzberg’s (1971) theory and argue that managers—under time pressure—are more likely to take shortcuts with internal hires. Specifically, internal hires’ firm-specific knowledge tends to make these shortcuts appear more readily available and effective. I identify three aspects of the transition and predict that internal hires receive less formal evaluation, less structured onboarding, and are more often placed into roles with unfamiliar responsibilities. Using survey data from approximately 600 new hires and 200 hiring managers at a large healthcare organization, the findings support differences in onboarding and job assignments, while no significant difference is observed in the use of formal evaluation practices.