Recruitment is often boiled down to external recruiting. This means getting your job post on Google jobs, job boards, looking for connections on LinkedIn, seeking out candidates with social media recruiting, and more. However, there is another option to fill positions with candidates that already work in your organization: internal recruitment.
According to a LinkedIn survey, 63 percent of recruiting and talent acquisition professionals believe that maximizing internal hiring & internal recruitment will make their hiring process faster and more efficient.
Efficiency is just one of many reasons why we believe internal recruitment is imperative for all recruitment strategies.
Internal recruitment has a number of advantages and benefits beyond efficiency. Let’s take a look.
Internal Recruitment Promotes Loyalty & Longevity
Think about how you would recruit an external candidate. You often use company culture & growth opportunities to attract candidates. They can then envision how they can make a career in your organization.
41 percent of employees stay longer at companies that regularly utilize internal recruitment & hire from within
But, if you never hire from within or promote employees to the next level, you’re not following through.
Employees are paying attention to this; 41 percent of employees stay longer at companies that regularly utilize internal recruitment & hire from within. One survey found that 81 percent of talent professionals believe that internal recruiting improves employee retention. This reduces recruiting costs in the long run.
The numbers back up this idea: external recruitment is estimated to cost 170 percent more than internal recruiting. In fact, it’s estimated that, “turnover caused by a lack of future career opportunities costs average-sized companies $49 million per year.”
Branding and External Recruitment
These ideas also bleed over into employer branding territory as well, which helps both internal and external recruiting.
If external recruits know that an organization often promotes or hires from within, they might be more inclined to apply and accept positions there compared to other companies without that internal recruiting emphasis.
In order to let potential hires know they can “move up the ladder,” career pages can be leveraged to tell stories of people within the company who have moved through the ranks.
Whether it’s internal or external, recruitment requires thoughtful language to get your job posts in front of your target audience.
We use Google jobs structured data to do just that. Learn more about how our recruitment technology works here.
Productivity and Position Success
This cost difference is related to employee retention and turnover, but it likely also has a connection to productivity and employee success.
A benefit of hiring internally is that the employee already has an understanding of the organization, internal systems, processes, protocols, etc.
Especially now during the rise of remote work, internal recruitment means hiring someone you already know and trust without having to go through the external recruitment process. Relationships — and trust — can take time to form. And you know what they say time equals!
Internal promotions can also immediately get started without a lengthy onboarding process. They already have experience and connections within your organization. It’s likely easier for them to get started in the new role rather than a brand new external recruit.
Thanks to all of these factors, 69 percent of recruiters believe that internal recruiting accelerates new hire productivity. Not to mention, internal hires were found to be unsuccessful in their new position only 25 percent of the time compared to 40 to 60 percent for external hires.
You can increase new external hire productivity by targeting your perfect candidates.
How? Optimizing your Google job postings gets listings helps you place the right person in the right position. Partner with Jobiak to make it happen.
Create the Employees You Want and Need
When you put an emphasis on internal recruiting, you’re better able to form and create the employees you want and need. You can fill higher-up positions through guidance and education of current employees.
Instead of crossing your fingers and trying to find the perfect candidate elsewhere, you can utilize training and opportunities to mold your staff into the future employee you want & need.
Focus on skill-building and forming employees to suit positions above them early on.
This is a great way to promote diversity & inclusion in the workplace as well. You can foster and promote employees in minority groups to higher positions, supporting your employer brand. This emphasizes growth within the company for all employees.
Internal Recruitment Benefits — Bottom Line
Internal recruitment can make things more efficient, more affordable, and can make your employees feel seen and appreciated.
However, we think it’s important to note that just because there are benefits of internal recruitment doesn’t mean that external recruitment isn’t also useful or necessary. It’s about finding a balance between the two. The methods for each type of recruitment should aid the success of the other and the company as a whole.
Continue to optimize your job postings for Google for Jobs, career websites, and other common areas used for sourcing external candidates. Combine the power of internal and external recruitment to create a team that you’re proud of.
Need some assistance? Contact us to learn how our technology can help your job listings perfectly represent your company, your brand, and your open positions.
