Firms urged to focus on internal hiring strategies

UK firms are being advised to focus on internal hiring, as well as developing existing talent in order to aid retention and help with growing workloads.

With recent ONS data showing that the three months to May saw record-breaking vacancy numbers and fierce competition for talent, AMS is urging UK businesses to place more emphasis on internal hiring strategies.

Jim Sykes, Sector Managing Director, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences and Professional Services at AMS, explained, “With the skills gap continuing to widen and available talent levels dwindling, new and innovative talent acquisition strategies are constantly being turned to as a means of beating the competition for the best staff. While this is certainly important, I’d argue that far too many firms are focusing the majority of their attention on outward candidate attraction and ignoring their current resources – which will only exacerbate the problem.

“With the ONS also reporting last month that jobs had surpassed the number of people unemployed, staff are arguably ripe for the picking of competitors. Identifying where internal mobility opportunities lie in order to move staff across the business and boost retention rates will help alleviate some of the pressures on resourcing teams.”

Sykes added, “While there is no quick fix for the UK’s skills shortage, opening positions up internally as well as implementing upskilling or reskilling programmes for current staff will boost your retention rates in the long term. A lack of career opportunity is regularly cited as the reason that people leave their current employer so ensuring companies are looking at their internal employee population will have a swift impact on skills deficits.

“What is certain is that, as it stands, employers aren’t doing all they can to maximise internal hiring opportunities and a new approach to internal hiring is needed, one that includes new technologies that give organisations a holistic view of the skills within the business and can proactively help to match existing talent to new internal opportunities. We need to change our corporate cultures so that managers are encouraged or rewarded to develop and progress their existing talent, not just look externally. And we need to allow talent acquisition teams to proactively approach internal talent for roles in the same way that we would do for external talent.”

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