An opportunity arises when least expected.
Over the last few years, scarcity for software developers has emerged on every corner of the IT industry. Tech companies have always been increasingly looking for ways to embrace internal mobility as a solution, but now it’s happening from a different perspective.
Recently, the global pandemic has hit the world and made overall recruiting processes almost impossible, making the internal mobility concept arising as an opportunity.
Internal mobility isn’t something new, but it brings a brand new perspective on retention
The link between internal mobility and retention isn’t something new. A recent report states that 41% of employees will stay longer with companies embracing internal hiring than those who don’t.
The spotlight on retaining tech talents especially comes into place in the light of a recent survey that unveils that 26% of workers plan to leave their employers after the pandemic, and 72% said that pandemic caused them to rethink their skill sets.
HR departments must ensure that employees can explore and try new things and figure out the next move to increase retention rates.
Good management and strong collaboration between the HR department and company leadership is a foundation for internal mobility. It builds additional focal points inside the company to:
- Identify top talents and their potential
- Build trust
- Constantly evaluates employee career goals and meet their expectations within the organization
- Mentor employees
Internal mobility opportunities grew during the pandemic when hiring activity almost stalled in many tech companies. Consequently, the remote working environment opened new opportunities for software developers.
Even with the pandemic still on our horizon, we exchanged ideas with numerous tech companies to inform us that they were inventing small miracles to keep their workforce together. After their initial steps inside the internal mobility concept, the perception of reinforced company commitment became palpable between employees.
From time to time, the right candidate already exists inside the company
Internal mobility improves retention and accelerates new hire productivity while reducing time to hire. So, isn't it the right time to take it into serious consideration as a way to grow tech teams?
Whenever tech companies have vacant positions to fill, they start using external recruitment channels to hire the right person for the job. However, from time to time, the right candidate already exists in the company.
Creating an internal mobility system means being able to connect employees to the opportunities inside the company. It starts with auditing new team members during the hiring process by going through the skills database. When a cross-collaboration opportunity appears for a job position, the HR department can refer to the employee database to see if someone is already employed in the company whose skills fit.
However, in smaller organizations, this process can also rely on the HR professionals’ soft skills. Getting to know your employees and their performance makes things more sensible regarding the potential spillover effect.
If the tech team struggles to find a senior software engineer, consider looking into current junior employees with around 3 years of overall coding experience. We assume that you track their performance sheets, but nevertheless, talk to the team lead and try to get a sense of their ability to organize, catch deadlines, and work under more pressure in general. There must be one or two persons that are already showcasing seriosity and responsibility in their approach.
With the right mentorship and support from the rest of the team or, if necessary and additional external training, junior employees can gradually transition to a dedicated senior role. After all, free junior positions might be easier to fill from a less strained junior tech talent pool than endlessly looking for the perfect senior tech candidate.
The point is that the situation won’t get better, and the lack of developers will stay with us. That puts HR departments and recruiters to the point when they have to bring ideas and persuade company leadership to follow them.
Internal mobility gives employees more space to work
A well built internal mobility program can help you hire and develop better tech talents.
Internal hires come with a negligible risk, as companies already know candidates’ performance first hand, lower hiring costs, and higher employee performance levels.
In an industry where outside talent is becoming increasingly more difficult to find and attract, looking within an existing team can make the crucial difference between struggling and succeeding.
