Are you missing out on the talent right under your nose?
Internal employees are one of the top sources of talent – yet they are often underutilized. Harvard reported from the end of World War II through the 1970s, corporations filled roughly 90% of their vacancies through promotions and lateral assignments. Today the figure is a third or less.
It begs the question: why?
The answer is relatively simple: Talent teams today often don’t have the full picture of your current workforce. Nor do employees have visibility into opportunities to advance their career within your organization.
Employers are homing in on employees’ critical skills and competencies during the coming year, with 68% of HR professionals naming it their top priority according to Gartner’s recent HR Priorities Survey.
This shouldn’t be much of a surprise given the last year’s business shifts and accelerated digital transformation initiatives. To get ahead and stay agile, it’s critical to understand your current workforce and dial in to its skills and strengths. Your talent acquisition software can help you do that.
AI-informed candidate-matching technology sifts through your database, ranking and prioritizing recommended matches. Your recruiter and talent management counterparts can be more efficient in considering existing employees for new opportunities, and they can share both internal and external matches with the hiring manager.
When proactively reaching out to a potential internal candidate, there’s a large responsibility to the employee to explain to them, ‘why this role, why now.’ An AI solution embedded into your talent acquisition software that offers explainability (the ‘why’ behind the top matches) helps inform and support the recruiter in those conversations about transferrable skills.
On the other hand, if a candidate is not chosen for the role, it can also provide a starting point for explaining the gaps in your employee’s skill set. Managers can then create a development plan of stretch assignments, training, and even outside volunteer work.
Recruiters know that the majority of candidates are passive job seekers, and routinely go out and engage these folks. Your employees are part of the passive talent pool; it’s time to give your TA teams the tools to tap into internal talent.
Too often the internal candidate experience is an afterthought with dull internal career sites and lacking communication. It doesn’t have to (and shouldn’t be) this way. Talent acquisition software can offer that same great candidate experience to your existing team members.
Make sure internal jobseekers are aware of new openings and upskilling opportunities. Help your talent acquisition team focus in on critical openings and internal talent seekers more easily find open roles with dedicated internal career sites for specific locations, roles, and departments. Read more about how organizations like American Heart Association foster career growth and share opportunities with their internal talent through internal talent portals here.
Send alerts directly in their flow of work using collaboration tools like Microsoft teams. Text messaging is also a low friction way to help internal talent discover new opportunities, stay informed of ways to increase their skills and experience, and efficiently apply for new opportunities.
While internal jobseekers already have insider knowledge of your organization, making sure their candidate experience is positive helps improve your internal mobility initiatives and reinforces your culture and values.
Gallup estimates turnover costs U.S. businesses $1 TRILLION dollars annually. And it’s been reported that replacement costs can be up to two times an individual employee’s annual salary.
The impact goes beyond finances. Employee retention paves the way for positive organizational culture, innovation, and growth – in other words, the future of your business.
Make sure your top performers stay with your company for the long haul. Investing in mobility and upskilling initiatives not only will improve retention but also empower winning teams and strengthen your business.
Learn how internal talent pools address skills gaps, turnover, employee satisfaction, career pathing, and professional growth opportunities. Download the Definitive Guide to Building Your Pipeline.
