Tapping Talent From Within

Identifying top talent today can feel like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. As the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to report more job openings than unemployed workers, and as quit rates remain high, it can be difficult to find new talent for open roles. SHRM’s 2024 Talent Trends Report reveals that more than 75% of organizations had trouble filling open positions in the past year. While this represents a modest improvement from the peak of the Great Resignation in 2022 (when 91% of organizations experienced difficulty hiring), talent acquisition remains a pressing concern.

Although many companies attempt to solve this problem by pursuing talent external to their organizations, not as many seek to cultivate talent from their own ranks. While not a novel concept, recruiting from within is a far less common approach. But,
according to SHRM research, HR professionals say that training current employees to take on difficult-​to-fill roles is an effective tactic. They rank it—along with providing monetary incentives to job candidates—as their third-most-effective recruitment strategy, just behind improving compensation and offering more flexible work arrangements.

But despite its apparent effectiveness, cultivating talent from within ranks a surprising 10th in terms of employer utilization.

With ongoing talent shortages, it’s important that organizations upskill and reskill their talent to meet their critical staffing needs. According to SHRM’s 2023-2024 State of the Workplace report, 53% of organizations have made this a top priority for 2024, and the demand for employees who know how to work with AI is making it even more important. In fact, according to SHRM’s 2024 AI in the Workplace study, 28% of HR leaders say the growing use of AI has resulted in an increased need for upskilling and reskilling. 

Internal Talent Marketplaces

For employers to accurately identify the skill sets they need to nurture within their existing talent pool, they must conduct a careful analysis of their future business needs. Creating effective internal training programs hinges on successful collaboration between HR professionals and a company’s subject matter experts. If companies can accomplish this, they will be better able to unlock the hidden potential within their workforce.

That’s where internal talent marketplaces—platforms that match employees to
opportunities—come in. These platforms facilitate internal mobility by showing employees open jobs and matching them to those roles, enabling them to move from one part of the organization to another based on their skill sets.

But SHRM has found that only 1 in 4 organizations use these platforms. And those that do use them don’t leverage the latest technology. Only 4% of organizations that have an internal talent marketplace use AI to match employees to opportunities—highlighting a need to expand what can be a very effective tool.

The lesson is clear: Cultivating internal talent is a strategic imperative. By upskilling and reskilling workers and matching them with new opportunities, organizations can unlock the hidden potential of their workforce to ensure they thrive into the future. 

Ragan Decker, Ph.D., is an industrial-organizational psychologist and manager of Executive Network/Enterprise Solutions research at SHRM.