Organisations could be missing out on top talent and increasing costs by neglecting internal recruitment, according to a new study by Cornerstone OnDemand, a global leader in cloud-based talent management software solutions. According to the research, carried out in conjunction with leading industry analysts across Europe, over three quarters of organisations (77 percent) understand that internal recruitment is critical, but 54 percent do less than a third of their recruiting from their existing employee base.
“Your employees are your best asset, so it makes sense for companies to tap into this valuable talent pool.” said Vincent Belliveau, Senior Vice President & General Manager EMEA, Cornerstone OnDemand. “Staff turnover and external recruitment can be prohibitively expensive, costing more than £30,000 on average, per role. Organisations already have a good understanding of the skills and aptitudes of their people, making internal hires a faster, more effective way of recruiting. However, there are clearly barriers blocking companies from making the most of this.”
Cornerstone’s research, which polled HR professionals representing 363 European organisations across a number of vertical sectors, found that barriers to effective internal recruitment included the fear of losing top performers (25 percent) creating internal vacancies (14 percent) and limiting diversity in the workplace (12 percent). However, with 93 percent admitting that internal recruitment has been successful in the past, it is clear that teams need to look beyond the short term challenges that internal recruitment can cause and focus on the longer term benefits, which outweigh both the costs and risks.
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According to the study, HR professionals believe that internal recruitment can have an extremely positive impact by developing, engaging and retaining staff. However, many experience technological as well as social and professional barriers; 69 percent of the sample reported that they rely on simple job posting systems to hire internally, even though more than 40 percent think a dedicated career planning system is a must have.
“Without a fast and effective means of recording current employee skills and matching these skills to internal vacancies, internal recruitment is time-consuming and frustrating,” concludes Belliveau. “This complexity can drive HR teams to advertise externally and unnecessarily. However, it’s vital that they look at the bigger picture – whilst managers might worry about losing talent within the department, it’s far worse for the company to lose this talent entirely. People now have multiple careers – not just multiple jobs – within their lives, and savvy organisations which embrace this can not only retain, but also engage and develop their best people, ultimately benefiting the entire organisation.”
To download the full report, Your Company’s Got Talent! – Internal Recruitment Issues in the European Marketplace 2014, please click here.
