We’re facing a significant challenge—hiring. We don’t have enough people, and finding new talent is getting harder. And in a few short years, it’s going to be even worse. As labor economist David Autor points out, all the people who turn 30 in the year 2053 have already been born, and we can’t create more individuals in that age group. On top of that, the workforce is graying: Some 64% of all new workers are under the age of 34, only 5% are in their fifties, and only 3% represent the baby boomer generation.

While so much is understood about this hiring challenge, there is something we can do—start to look at internal mobility and flexible work as the way to grow the company.

During the peak of the pandemic, organizations leveraged internal hiring for their business needs. Although many employees did join new companies virtually, companies were forced to look internally to fill workforce needs. Companies increased their internal hiring rates, spiking in 2020 at 40% of all hires, a notable increase from the typical range of 30% to 32% for internal placements.

As we discovered in hundreds of interviews, what these companies found is that internal staff have a pent-up demand for new opportunities. Notably, every company that  implemented a new internal talent marketplace found it valuable. Seagate, for example, reported savings of $20 million to $30 million in the first year by eliminating the need for external contractor assistance through its marketplace.

And the benefits keep adding up. LinkedIn research shows that when employees are promoted, they are 70% more likely to stay long term. The same research shows that 62% of employees who make lateral moves display high retention rates. Our data also shows that hiring externally can incur costs three to five times more than those associated with internal mobility factoring in various financial, time, and associated expenses

The idea of “hire to grow” is just gone after all. Big Tech has matured to a stage where it is now habitually shedding workers not because of real economic pressure but to tweak the stock price.

And no matter how much money organizations throw at hiring, achieving the desired results may not be guaranteed. Our data indicates that the average hire cycle is 45 days, but that’s the average. The high end is set at 90 to 120 days. If a job remains open for this prolonged duration, the likelihood of attracting high-caliber candidates diminishes. Anybody who is good isn’t going to apply to a job that takes that long to fill, leading to the recruitment of less-able candidates.

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