The Internal Job Board is not Internal Mobility.
You’ve likely seen the news that the Great Resignation is upon us. If you haven’t, you can study up here, here, and here. And suddenly, we are all looking at the shiny object of internal mobility. It makes sense. But, it also begs the question on how has it taken us this long?
We believe it’s for a variety of reasons, key among them, people believe they’ve already got a solution…the internal job board. Well, I am here to tell you that that is not a solution. The internal job board is simply a job board. One that people have to navigate to, search in, click through, and then go through the arduous process of applying for a job like you don’t even know them. And to this I say: How’s that working out for you?
If you’re like most of the data we’ve seen, your employees don’t even know it exists. They don’t go to your career site to see a link for internal careers. They don’t think to search for jobs with you. If fact, of the customer data we’ve seen, less than 10% of your entire workforce has visited the internal job board. And the conversion rates on those visits are terrible. Our data shows that internal talent is 5x less likely to convert on an internal job board than external talent. Why?
Well, we believe it’s because the internal job board is an after-thought, difficult to use, and frankly, they don’t want to go through the application process like anyone else. They want to be treated differently because you already know them, which you do!
The internal job board is not an internal mobility solution. It’s a band aid. And right now, we are going to need an emergency room full of equipment to save our companies from the Great Resignation. We need to be focused on developing solutions that are going to make your employees feel valued, special, and safe. Don’t believe us, take Kevin Wheeler’s word for it.
Kevin writes: “First of all, make internal mobility the most important thing you focus on. Helping employees find new positions may be the best and most direct way to influence them to stay. Yet, most organizations either erect numerous bureaucratic hurdles that make moving around tough or do not offer any simple way for an employee to learn about possibilities.”
He’s spot on! Make it simple. Make it for them (not someone else) and guess what, they will stay.
What’s your 2021-22 mobility strategy? How quickly can you shift gears to give your talent the mobility they crave before they leave? The time is now.