Expert Advice: 3 tips to make your internal mobility program a success

September 6, 2022

 

iCIMS Staff

5 min read

Nearly 40% of your current workforce is open to exploring a new position. If you’re struggling to drive internal applicants to your talent marketplace, build engagement, or lower attrition, now may be the time to reevaluate your internal recruiting program. After all, you know your employees better than any external recruiter and can build on your connection, insights on their current role, and their managers’ feedback to gauge interest in a career move. 

The impact of an internal recruiting program is too great to ignore:  

• Turnover costs an average-sized organization $49 million to recover  
• Employees who are promoted from within have a 70% chance of remaining in seat vs. 45% if hired externally 
• Only 18% of employees feel that their company has a good understanding of their skills, interests, and skills gaps 

To overcome some of these trends, here are three tips from Kara Yarnot at HireClix and Jacqueline Kuhn at HRchitect on ways you can build a successful internal recruiting program.  

To get additional insights, like how to address issues like talent hoarding, relaunching a program, and other hot topics, check out our recently launched Jumpstart Your Internal Mobility Program series.    

1. Host employee listening tours: Hold open meetings to get to the heart of your workforce. Let your employees provide feedback in a safe space and dig into your culture – whether that’s through engagement scores, pulse surveys, or “Great Place to Work” responses. You might be surprised when you break down retention issues, hear what’s preventing career advancement, and uncover whether you deliver on your employer brand value.   

Expert tip: The number one complaint heard by organizations is that employees perceive a “hidden internal talent network”. If this is something your employees have voiced concern over, take action by posting all positions to your internal talent marketplace to provide more transparency and create a more equitable experience. 

2. Reset your KPIs: Recruiters are historically measured on their external applicant hiring metrics like time to fill, number of candidates, interviews, etc. Work with your teams to add metrics like internal hiring rate and internal applicants to set your program up for success. 

Expert tip: You can also measure decrease in voluntary turnover and employee satisfaction scores to indicate how your internal recruiting impacts the overall employee experience.  

3. Build an equitable experience for employees: Everyone wants a fair chance. The hidden internal talent network is a big concern across organizations and can be solved with an omnichannel approach. First, ensure that all roles are posted to your career site. Then follow up through different communication avenues to promote roles and ensure that all roles are posted to your internal career site.   

In addition, go through the experience as your workforce would and ensure that everyone would be able to apply. Take into consideration the mobile experience. Are email addresses necessary to apply? How do remote employees learn about roles? Use channels like employee resource groups, company meetings, HR emails, etc., to communicate your program to all employees.  

Expert tip: You can deliver omnichannel communication and training to employees with iCIMS’ recently released Guided Start. After logging on to iCIMS Opportunity Marketplace, employees are welcomed with a step-by-step tour to set expectations. This can also provide a gentle reminder of why they joined your organization. By creating a consistent experience and sharing information, you can build trust, increase adoption, and train your workforce at scale.  

iCIMS Opportunity Marketplace – Guided Start 

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