TA Teams Place Little Value on Internal Mobility, Survey Shows
By Kevin Grossman on ERE.net, published on March 9, 2023
North American talent acquisition teams laid out their priorities for 2023 in Talent Board’s end-of-2022 recruiting focus survey. Topping their list are:
- Onboarding
- Candidate experience
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Employee referrals
- Screening and interviewing
- Employer branding
Internal mobility made the list as well — as priority No. 12. Even after two monthly CandE Pulse surveys, it’s now last on the list.
It’s concerning that internal mobility isn’t a higher priority. It’s true that TA doesn’t always have the purview into retention strategies, but talent shortfalls are predicted to worsen, and 75% of employers have already struggled to recruit qualified candidates.
Internal mobility programs are an antidote to these problems, helping companies retain precious talent and the valuable skills and organizational knowledge they possess.
Second-guessing TA teams’ priorities hardly seems fair, given what they’re up against. Many of their companies are still recovering and rebuilding in the wake of the pandemic, the current reshuffling shows no signs of abating, and many recruiting departments and budgets have been pared to the bone. Oh, and millions of open jobs still need to be filled.
Despite having their hands full, TA teams have to make internal mobility a bigger priority. Until they do, they’ll continue to suffer their current fate — searching vainly for qualified talent in a shrinking global pool.
Career Tracks Are Leading People out the Door
Employers frequently tout their commitment to internal mobility and promoting people from within. Research, however, is calling this commitment into question.
For example, McKinsey & Company examined the work histories of roughly 4 million workers across multiple countries. It found that workers change jobs every two to four years on average, and 80% of these job changes are workers moving from one employer to another.
