Talent acquisition teams are often quick to hire for a new role from outside the organization without taking a look at the plethora of talent right under their noses. A study by a talent management overseer notes that internal hires perform better overall are 61% less likely to be laid off, and usually take 18% lower compensation than their external counterparts. Both HBR and SHRM agree that internal mobility is the most efficient path toward organizational success.  

COVID-19 has altered the hiring landscape significantly. Several unforeseen circumstances have rendered external hiring next to impossible. This has energized efforts from talent acquisition teams to accelerate internal mobility. 

With a strong internal mobility program, companies can shift resources to where they’re most suited. They can do so without the costs and delays associated with a traditional external recruiting process. Mobility programs are crucial to retaining talent. If employees cannot see a realistic target job role they can achieve within the next two years, they are more likely to leave, i.e., increased attrition rates. 

Apart from lower attrition rates, other benefits include: 

• Lower talent acquisition costs 
• IP protection due to fewer talent leaving  
• Stronger leadership teams comprising of people who’ve risen through the ranks and imbibed the company ethos 
• Greater employee engagement & retention 

Despite these benefits, studies have shown that enterprises are unusually slow to implement strong internal mobility programs. Here, we take a look at how to promote a company-wide culture that promotes employees to upskill and aim upward in their career trajectory. 

Internal Hiring is Needlessly Hard 

Thanks to the conventional pyramidal hierarchy that exists within most organizations, internal hiring has become needlessly hard to implement. This organizational structure is designed to hire a person at the bottom rung, let them stew there for a while and then promote them up. This blinds the talent to opportunities across the organization. For managers as well, such siloed models prevent them from spotting talent across teams.  

The need of the hour is to open up the company across teams, departments and verticals. Even after doing this, there may be hesitation from some managers in letting go of their talent to another team. To circumvent such issues, the company culture itself should be transformed into one that promotes internal mobility actively.  

Set Up Internal Job Boards 

Internal job boards are another measure to encourage internal mobility. However, conventional job boards won’t do the job. These job boards need to be properly linked and tagged with the appropriate skill set requirements and mapped to digital portals where employees spend most of their time.  

Taking it further, each employee should also be able to clearly see how they can reskill themselves to become the ideal candidate for the target job role. A recent report by a talent consultant revealed that 50% of people looking to change career tracks agree that it is easier to find a new role inside the organization than outside.  

Publicize your Success Stories 

Newly onboarded employees fresh out of college are two times more likely to quit their cushy new job if there is no discernable career trajectory to choose.  

Talent acquisition managers should focus on retaining this talent by showcasing employee profiles of those who have stayed on in the company, reskilled themselves with or without company support and successfully transitioned to a new role. After all, seeing is believing. 

The opportunity for career progression, in the current role or in an adjacent role, makes the organization 53% more attractive to fresh hires according to a report by an HR consultant.  

Push Reskilling Hard 

Our own research indicated that over 75% of job roles are due for some kind of disruption in the near future. Whether it’s transforming an Insurance Agent into a Claims Analyst or an In-store Sales Associate into an Inventory Analyst,  reskilling goes a long way in opening new career pathways to employees. As a bonus, reskilling also help in mitigating the effects of talent shortage.  

Draup’s reskilling cost benefits model estimates that reskilling internal workforce can help organizations save up to 22% in Talent costs.  

With our Reskilling Navigator tool, talent managers can easily map out a journey from current role to a target job role. Assisted by our proprietary AI algorithm that suggests optimal pathways to reskill, including course recommendations, internal career mobility objectives can be met in the least amount of time with minimal investment.