Are internal transfers really freezing too, or is it just external hiring?
They are freezing too, and the data makes that clear. Many workers assume a hiring freeze only blocks outside candidates while leaving internal mobility open. That is no longer a safe assumption. According to Workday's October 2026 Global Workforce Report, which draws on de-identified platform data and a September 2026 survey of 6,000 full-time employees, internal moves to new roles fell at 57 percent of employers year over year. Promotions stayed flat, but lateral and cross-team moves, the exact mechanism most people use to change jobs internally, slowed at more than half of companies.
The broader labor market explains why. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its September 2026 Employment Situation that nonfarm payrolls rose just 29,000, the unemployment rate held at 4.2 percent, and July and August were revised down by a combined 60,000. Separately, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that employers announced plans to hire 90,787 workers in September 2026, down 23 percent from a year earlier and the lowest September total since 2011. When companies are this cautious about adding headcount, they apply the same caution internally. An open internal req still costs the company money if the role is newly created, so finance teams often freeze both at once.
How do you move teams when the reqs are actually frozen?
You stop waiting for a posting and start building the case for a role before it exists. Frozen reqs rarely mean frozen conversations. The work of an internal transfer happens months before a job is formally open, and a freeze is the right time to do that quiet groundwork.
Start by identifying the specific team you want to join and the specific problem that team is struggling to solve. Transfers get approved during tight budgets when a hiring manager can argue that moving you solves an existing pain, not that they are adding a nice-to-have. Reach out to the manager of that team for an informational conversation framed around their priorities, not your career goals. Ask what is slipping, what they wish they had more capacity for, and what skills the team is short on. That conversation gives you a map of exactly what to demonstrate.
Then demonstrate it visibly while still in your current role. Volunteer for a cross-functional project that touches the target team. Offer to take a small piece of their backlog that your current responsibilities can absorb. When budgets eventually loosen, and the BLS and Challenger data suggest this is a wait-and-see pause rather than a permanent state, the manager who already knows your work will convert a quiet contribution into a formal headcount request far faster than they will post and screen strangers.
What do you do if your own manager is blocking the move?
First, understand that during a freeze, a manager hoarding talent is often protecting their own team's output, not punishing you. That reframing helps you negotiate rather than resent. Managers block transfers because losing a performer when they cannot backfill creates a real gap. Your job is to reduce the cost of letting you go.
Be direct and early. Tell your manager you are interested in growing toward a different area, and ask for their help rather than their permission. Propose a transition plan that protects their team: document your work, cross-train a peer, and offer a timeline that does not leave them exposed mid-project. If a formal transfer is genuinely impossible right now, negotiate a loan or a split arrangement where you spend part of your time supporting the target team. That keeps you on your manager's roster while building the relationship and credibility that make the eventual move a formality.
If your manager remains an immovable obstacle, go up a level carefully. A skip-level conversation about your development, framed around what you want to learn rather than a complaint, is legitimate and expected. Senior leaders generally want talent retained somewhere in the company rather than lost to a competitor, and they can see the whole board in a way your direct manager cannot.
How do you keep growing when the company will not help you reskill?
You take ownership of your own development, because the data shows many employers are not closing the gap. The same Workday report found that 79 percent of the 6,000 employees surveyed in September 2026 said they know the skills they need to succeed, but only 66 percent said their employer actually helps them develop those skills. That 13-point support gap means a meaningful share of workers are reskilling on their own.
Turn that gap into an advantage. Identify the one or two capabilities the target team values most, and build demonstrable proof through side projects, internal training you can access for free, or volunteering for stretch assignments. When you later make your case for a transfer, you want to point to something you have already done, not a course you intend to take. Keep a simple running record of outcomes and impact, because the person who can show results is the person a cautious hiring manager risks a scarce headcount on.
When will the freeze lift, and how do you time your move?
Nobody can predict the exact timing, but the evidence points to a pause rather than a structural end to internal mobility. Challenger described employers as stuck in a cautious wait-and-see mode, and the BLS numbers show a stalled rather than collapsing labor market. Freezes also lift unevenly; one business unit may open headcount while another stays locked. The people who move first are the ones already positioned, already known to the hiring manager, and already proven on the relevant work. Treat the freeze as preparation time rather than dead time, and you convert a period that stalls most people into the runway for your next role.