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When should you hire internally? Plus 5 innovative internal recruitment methods
July 6, 2021
When should or shouldn’t you recruit from within your company?
It’s often challenging to decide whether you should look inside or outside of the company to fill vacancies.
Before you decide how to recruit, it’s best to understand the pros and cons of external and internal recruitment methods and the suitable timings for each method.
If you’re recruiting internally, the 5 innovative internal recruitment methods in this article can help you fill the vacancies with the right candidates.
Let's start with the basics.
What is internal recruitment?
Internal recruitment is the process of finding and hiring a workforce within your own company to fill vacancies.
In contrast to looking outside, some HR professionals would steer their sights toward the internal workforce for several reasons.
Why recruit internally?
That’s because you have a better sense of who the person is and how they fit your company culture.
It also takes less time to train because they are already familiar with your company's culture, expectations, and way of working. The only thing you need to do is to train them about the technicalities of the role.
You’re also offering growth and learning opportunities to existing employees who might be looking elsewhere, further retaining your talents.
But internal recruitment is not all sunshine and rainbows. There are disadvantages too. And there are times external recruitment would help you find more suitable talents for the role.
Let us compare between internal and external recruitment and when you should use them.
Related reads: Want to know what are the best employee benefits that actually retain talents in Singapore?
Internal vs External Recruitment: Pros and Cons
When to do internal or external recruitment?
As you can see, each type of recruitment works has its own pros and cons, which means they work best in different situations and timings.
What confuses most HR professionals is determining the best time to use the best recruitment method.
When to recruit internally?
Internal recruitment works best when you have found that the following is true or necessary:
- An insider's perspective is more impactful and necessary than a new lens
- An internal job board accessible by existing employees
- A system in place for internal recruitment
- Qualified candidates are selected based on their capabilities, not popularity (preventing internal company politics and conflicts)
- Able to find a match within the company
When should you not recruit internally?
Some of the bad times to hire internally are:
- The company is growing rapidly. A lot of new job roles will be created and the existing workforce can’t keep up with the change.
- You're in an over-competitive, fast-paced industry. The winds change very fast and you constantly need fresh ideas to stay competitive.
- In need of a new skill that your workforce doesn’t possess.
Methods of internal recruitment
At this point, you have understood how internal recruitment works and when you should use it to reap the most rewards.
In this section, you will learn some of the most common internal recruitment methods AND innovative methods which you may not have heard before.
The common methods of internal recruitment are:
- Promotion
- Internal advertisement
- Manager/Supervisor referral
- Transfer from another office/branch
5 innovative internal recruitment methods
- Hire a retired ex-employee as a contractor. If the role requires an experienced worker who understands the tasks inside out, this is a great way to re-engage retired ex-employees.
- Upskill qualified candidates to bridge the skills gap. Not sure if the candidates' skills are up to par? Give them a few training courses and test their capabilities. Some candidates may need just a little training to fit in the new role.
- Organise "a day as a (role name)" to allow interested employees to experience the role and its environment. Also, introduce them to their future teammates and let them mingle. Who they will work with is also a critical consideration for your candidates.
- Access the employee database and do targeted emailing and conversations. Instead of targeting external talents, you approach internal qualified candidates and strike conversations. Find out about their interest in the role and follow up with email or other internal communication channels.
- Insert advertisements in each HR executive's email signature. A one-time effort but helps you increase the awareness drastically.
The Takehome Message
If you're looking for a new hire, it may be time to look within your company.
Internal recruitment is an excellent way to promote more talented employees and retain them.
Using innovative methods like hiring retirees or upskilling qualified candidates can help fill the vacancies without relying solely on traditional means of job advertising.
Next read: How Covid-19 has changed the world of employee benefits and how other companies cope.
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