There’s no doubt that hiring from within can be a valuable way to source qualified talent for new roles and replacements. After all, existing employees already understand your organizational culture, structure, and processes. Similarly, HR teams are familiar with employee skills and performance, and where they may fit in other areas of the organization.
Internal job boards make it easier to match employees with internal job opportunities. They provide the data HR and internal recruiting teams need to understand where (and when) employees can move internally, and they can work alongside other candidate sourcing methods.
How an internal job board delivers data to support employee mobility
An internal job board has the potential to help organizations make the leap from committing to internal mobility to actually making it happen. This is particularly valuable considering that 76 percent of C-suite executives surveyed by Deloitte said internal talent mobility was important, but only 6 percent said their organization was doing it effectively.
Internal job boards, sometimes called internal talent marketplaces, are similar to social media job boards like LinkedIn. They list internal job opportunities and enable employees to create profiles listing their knowledge, skills, and professional achievements. Employees can apply for internal positions, and HR teams can identify employees as potential candidates. As a result, employees have multiple opportunities to match with internal positions, and HR teams gain new insights to facilitate those matches.
Employee insights
An internal job board empowers employees to include more information in their profile than they would in a typical resume. Profile information can include employee experiences within the company, including task forces and cross-functional projects, as well as their interests and career aspirations. Additionally, many internal job board platforms enable employees to add other information to their profile, including:
• Additional skills, including those not being actively utilized in the employee’s current role
• Preferences for lateral and vertical moves
• Openness to relocation
• Preferred timeline for a move
Position insights
An internal job board can also include more information about open positions, such as employee eligibility to apply. For example, open director-level roles may only be open to employees at the manager level or higher, or specific positions may be open for local-only or expatriate employees. With this additional data about both positions and employees, HR can identify a slate of internal candidates to be considered exclusively for an open position or in conjunction with candidates sourced via other methods.
Other benefits of an internal job board
In a 2023 Gallup survey, over half (51 percent) of employees said they were watching for or actively looking for a new job. This reality is particularly concerning given that most organizations are concerned about retaining talent in an increasingly competitive market. Thankfully, an effective internal mobility strategy can help organizations keep employees longer. According to a LinkedIn study, employees in companies with high internal mobility stay with their organization 60 percent longer than employees in companies with low internal mobility.
In addition to increasing employee retention, an internal job board can help your organization achieve the following:
• Accelerated upskilling and reskilling: An environment where employees frequently move within and between functions and departments helps to increase the transfer of knowledge and skills throughout the organization.
• Faster time-to-hire: HR is already familiar with internal candidates, so they can help hiring managers run a shorter and more streamlined interview and assessment process.
• Smoother onboarding: Internal hires may get up and running in a new role quicker because they already understand company culture, processes, people, and internal systems.
Increasing internal mobility helps employees reach their career growth goals while delivering a more comprehensive slate of candidates for open positions. By incorporating an internal job board into your organization’s talent acquisition strategy, you’ll be less likely to overlook the best candidates, including those already working within your organization.
ForceBrands offers end-to-end hiring solutions for all stages of growth. Whether you’re just starting to hire or are looking for the next step in your career, we’re here to help you be a positive Force that makes an impact.
