The internal mobility imperative: How can we start filling more roles with internal hires?

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How often do your employees change roles? And how do you best connect them with the right internal opportunities before they seek them elsewhere? From Deloitte’s ‘Greenhouse’ program to the ‘Ohana’ system at Salesforce, internal mobility programs have gathered rapid popularity across industry-leading organizations through their ability to fill skills gaps, drive engagement, and create innovative cultures and organizations.

Yasar Ahmad, Global Vice President of Talent, Mobility, and Rewards at HelloFresh, is a strong advocate for internal mobility practices and joins the HRD Live podcast to discuss where organizations go wrong with their internal mobility strategy, and how they can create thriving internal mobility practices.

“Often employees aren’t aware of all the opportunities within their own organization which hinders internal ability,” begins Ahmad. “So, while job boards are often maintained for external candidates, internal job postings might not be as well promoted or accessible.”

But this issue does not lie solely at the feet of talent acquisition. “Then you’ve got limited career development programs,” he continues. “Companies lack structured training and career development programs.”

How to create thriving internal mobility programs

Across the course of the episode, Ahmad recommends several best practices, including:

• Tying internal mobility programs to L&D to help employees proactively transition into new career roles
• Creating highly effective job rotation programs to engage employees beyond onboarding
• Determining when and how to create an internal talent acquisition team to identify and nurture internal talent

Timestamps

00:09 – Introduction

00:54 – Research shows only 10% of job opportunities are filled with internal lateral hires. What are the biggest barriers preventing organizations from filling roles through internal mobility?

02:59 – What are the hallmarks or fundamentals of an internal mobility program that many organizations overlook?

06:21 – Can you share any best practices for job-swapping or rotation plans as a mechanism for increasing internal mobility?

10:02 – What other skills development programs may help improve the level of internal mobility?

12:57 – Should organizations turn over all stones internally before seeking an external hire? Or, if it’s case-by-case, what framework can TA and HR leaders follow to determine when to focus on internal talent?

15:11 – Do HR leaders need to create an internal talent acquisition team, or should they focus on equipping their traditional TA team to spot internal talent?

17:24 – How can HR and TA work with managers to create an environment where employees feel empowered to put their names forward for roles?

20:26 – We are seeing vendors roll out AI-enabled talent marketplaces – What components of internal mobility should AI automate, and what value-adding activities should TA teams retain?

Yasar Ahmad is the Global Vice President of Talent, Mobility, and Rewards at HelloFresh. Previously, Yasar was the Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Zalando and the Director and Head of Strategic Hiring at Wipro and Wipro Digital. He is an accomplished people leader with experience in various HR roles, with a passion for Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Inclusion and Diversity, Mobility, Rewards and learning & development, and employers branding. He is a member of the RL100 and a committed speaker on industrial challenges and creating human-shaped experiences. His teams have previously won the 2019 HRD Award for Diversity & Inclusion and the 2018 Award for Innovative Recruitment and On-boarding. Yasar, welcome to the podcast.

Benjamin Broomfield As Senior Editor for HRD, Benjamin is intimately connected with HR’s foremost thought leaders and senior HR leadership from the world’s largest organizations. He produces industry-recognized commentary, Q&As, and case studies that help HR leaders to solve core challenges and increase their value to the business. Benjamin is the host and producer of the HRD Live Podcast.

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