Valuing and fostering the growth of internal talent is excellent business for organizations. In this article, we are going to talk about the main concepts involving internal recruitment and present strategies to value the team and increase satisfaction and engagement at work.
What is internal recruitment?
The internal recruitment and selection process can be compared to the meticulous process of searching for precious stones: in inbound recruitment, an organization seeks talented people within the company itself who can make valuable contributions to the success of the business.
In internal recruiting, a company evaluates the skills, qualifications and potential of the people on its team currently to understand whether job demands can be met internally.
The inbound recruiting methodology proposes that, instead of looking for new talent in the market, the company should provide opportunities for growth and development for its own employees. As a result, they may change between roles or areas within the organization.
What is the difference between internal recruitment and internal mobility?
Internal recruitment is the process of filling job openings with existing employees within an organization while internal mobility is about the movement of employees within a company from one position to another with a focus on growth.
The main difference is the source of demand. In internal recruitment, the need arises with the emergence of a vacancy.
As for internal mobility, moving (which can be a promotion, lateral movement or a unit transfer) is part of the career planning of the people on the team, with the aim of fostering professional growth and providing a greater understanding of the organization.
Benefits of internal recruiting vs external recruiting
The two recruitment modalities have advantages and disadvantages and choosing the most suitable method depends on each job position. Let’s look at the advantages of recruiting internally:
- More productivity and faster ramp-up in the position, since the internal talent will already be aware of how the company operates in the market and the solutions offered.
- Lower cost, since internal recruitment does not require investments in job advertisements, recruitment agencies and referral bonuses. Estimates point out that external recruitment can cost 1.7x more than internal recruitment.
- More retention, engagement and satisfaction at work, since when a person takes on challenges within the business, they renew their motivation and feel valued by the company. The other people on the team also feel more motivated and open to taking advantage of opportunities.
- Less risk, since with external recruiting, it is more difficult to assess the fit of the person with the organizational culture.
Now that we’ve talked about the concepts, let’s look at some good practices that can facilitate the process of finding the right people to fill opened positions.
5 Strategies to Succeed in Internal Recruiting Initiatives
#1 Design a well-defined disclosure process
Even if the recruitment process will be carried out externally as well, it is worth setting a deadline before the vacancy opens externally to analyze possible candidates internally, in order to demonstrate to the team that the company values its internal talents.
During this period, some initiatives may be part of the internal disclosure plan such as:
- Messages on internal communication channels, such as Slack or Teams, with a channel created exclusively for the purpose of disclosing internal opportunities;
- Mention in HR newsletters with the information about the job position, recalling the participation criteria. When vacancies are filled and internal promotions happen, let people know too!
- Prepare mentions in the leadership meetings of open positions for internal recruitment, so that the leaders themselves can identify potential candidates on their team;
- Referral bonuses are commonly offered for external recruiting, but can also work for internal vacancies to help identify potential candidates.
#2 Have team skills mapped
To look for a person with certain skills within the organization itself, it is necessary to have an updated skills mapping that can serve as a guide for identifying potential candidates.
This mapping can be done:
- Through people’s own estimates of their skills
- Through estimates made by leaders about their teams
- By observing job performance
- Using online tools with questions or tests.
At the end of training programs, the skills that people were trained in can be added to the skills map.
#3 Offer upskilling programs
Eventually a company may have people who have excellent performance in the organization, but do not have specific skills for the new position they will occupy – or have the skill but need improvement.
For these cases, the internal recruitment process can be followed by an upskilling or reskilling plan so that skill gaps are filled.
#4 Maintain an internal recruiting funnel
Maintaining a talent pipeline is an initiative that helps to identify and nurture potential candidates for positions within the company, making the recruitment process more productive and efficient.
An internal recruitment funnel begins by identifying strategic positions for achieving the company’s business objectives and describing the skills needed to occupy these positions.
The funnel is fed with potential candidates and they are offered opportunities for training, mentoring, leadership programs, job shadowing (where the person observes a more experienced colleague doing his job) and other resources that help people move forward in the funnel, being increasingly prepared to play these strategic roles in the future.
#5 Provide feedback to participants
As we have already seen, recruitment and internal mobility programs are great for increasing engagement, job satisfaction and the feeling of being valued, but if people do not understand the reasons why they were not chosen, the initiative can have the opposite effect.
Lack of feedback is one of the most frequent complaints from candidates for external recruitment positions and can leave marks on employer branding. When it comes to internal recruitment, the impact can be even greater.
Therefore, even if the person has not been approved, include formal feedback in the process, to maintain the person’s engagement in the role they have and their interest in participating in future processes.
Conclusion
By implementing these strategies, companies create a culture of internal recruitment and team appreciation, increase retention through the growth opportunities created and reduce recruitment costs over time, contributing to the achievement of business objectives.
How about offering the team language training based on work skills? Schedule a conversation with Voxy.
