The advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitment

Internal recruitment is a method of recruitment that, in many contexts, is the best choice for companies.

It is also recommended that organizations consider it first before turning to external recruitment. This is due in particular to the various advantages it brings to companies.

However, it should be noted that internal recruitment does not only have benefits. This article presents both the advantages that can be derived from it and its limitations, before indicating the steps to follow to achieve a successful internal recruitment campaign.

What is internal recruitment?

Like external recruitment, it is a method of personnel selection. However, unlike the latter, it consists, for a company, in seeking within its own workforce, the candidate to fill a vacant or newly created post.

It is part of the HR processes that an organization can use, depending on the professional resources it has at the time, to meet its strategic and operational needs.

Also called “internal mobility”, this type of recruitment comes in two main forms depending on the needs of the company:

• Vertical recruitment: the idea is to promote an employee of the company to a higher position than the one they already hold, with higher responsibilities and status. In this case, this is usually referred to as internal promotion;
• Horizontal recruitment: it involves transferring an employee of the company to a different position, but at the same level as the one they currently hold. They will therefore obviously retain the same rank and the same status.

Within companies, a large number of recruiters prefer this method of recruitment in many contexts. This is easy to understand in view of the many advantages it can offer.

What are the benefits of internal recruitment?

If internal recruitment is the type of recruitment first considered by human resources managers, it is because the benefits it offers are considerable.

Time saving

Opting for internal recruitment mainly saves a colossal amount of time. Indeed, HR teams, having knowledge of the skills and abilities of each employee, can more quickly designate the one that best corresponds to the position to be filled.

In the same vein, it should be noted that by choosing this option, the recruitment process is simplified. It will no longer be necessary, among other things, to prepare and disseminate job vacancies to a wide audience.

The direct consequence is that the number of applications will be reduced. This will allow recruitment teams to spend less time studying them and then scheduling and conducting interviews.

In addition, since the candidate who will be selected at the end of the selection has a very good command of the organization, operation, culture and development policy of the company, their adaptation period will be faster, even immediate.

Cost reduction

Another major advantage of internal recruitment is the consequent reduction in the overall costs of the recruitment campaign. Indeed, this option certainly makes it possible to limit the budget to be devoted to recruitment, because the realization of many actions will no longer be necessary.

For example, the company will no longer have to pay for:

• The advertisement on certain media;
• The fees of a recruitment agency;
• The development and management of an original recruitment campaign ;
• Background checks on successful candidates.

In addition, it should be remembered that recruiting a candidate within the company’s workforce avoids selection errors that can lead to significant losses in terms of money.

Valuing talent and employer brand

Internal recruitment is a good solution to develop a company’s talents. Indeed, whether in the case of a promotion or a transfer to a transversal position, it shows employees that their potential and their efforts are recognized and highlighted as it should be.

This strengthens their sense of belonging to the company and boosts their motivation. They will then be more engaged and productive, because they will have the assurance that a future promotion is indeed possible.

In addition, they will not hesitate to leave positive comments about the company on different social media and specialized platforms.

This represents a definite advantage in the sense that employee reviews contribute in a remarkable way to the enhancement and strengthening of an organization’s employer brand.

What are the disadvantages of internal recruitment?

Despite all these interesting advantages, you should know that internal recruitment still has some limitations that it is important to know before considering it. Among these, it is possible to find:

The obligation to train

In many cases, recruiting someone internally also creates an obligation to train them so that they can update or acquire the skills necessary to effectively meet the expectations of their new position.

It is important to know that this requires not only time, but also and above all a significant financial investment. This is one of the major drawbacks that can be attributed to this type of recruitment.

Restriction of choice

It may happen that recruiting internally is not really the best solution. This is particularly the case when no employee does match the desired profile or when the one who corresponds to it does not have exactly the specific skills sought.

This scenario makes it possible to realize that internal recruitment limits HR teams in the choice of candidates for a position. It is then often preferable to look outwards in order to access a larger pool of candidates to find more easily the ideal profile sought.

The creation of a bad climate within the company

Internal recruitment can sometimes be detrimental to the pleasant climate within a company. This is mainly seen when, for a single position, there are a large number of candidates available.

Thus, if the reasons why one employee is preferred aver another are not clear and obvious enough for all, the atmosphere between employees can become very tense.

This can give rise to feelings of injustice and jealousy in some of them, not to mention suspicions of favoritism, cronyism, inequality that can also circulate very quickly. It is therefore important to base the selection on the principles of objectivity and transparency.

This is precisely one of the challenges of recruitment is to find an ideal candidate for a position. It would be counterproductive to lose more than one employee for the same cause. The digitalization of recruitment could also be a good solution to this disadvantage.

Deprivation of new ideas

Still in terms of disadvantages, it should also be noted that internal recruitment generally deprives the company of a fresh look that could have brought a new vision as well as new ideas in terms of innovation and creativity.

This can be very harmful, especially when the organization is struggling to renew itself and its development has tended to stagnate for a very long time already. In these cases, it would be better to turn to external recruitment.

When should internal recruitment be considered?

The choice of internal recruitment instead of external recruitment must be motivated by the objectives and situation of the company. Internal mobility may be considered in cases where:

• The skills needed to fill the position are already present in the ranks of the company’s staff;
• The structure has the necessary means to finance training aimed at equipping its employees for the position to be occupied;
• The company needs profiles with a strong commitment to occupy the position;
• The company cannot afford to give too much time to adapt to the new occupant.

In addition, this method of recruitment can be adopted for both a newly vacated post and a newly created post.

How to optimize your internal recruitment strategy?

Like external recruitment, this type of recruitment requires the implementation of a good strategy based on several crucial steps.

The establishment of a clear and precise job description

Before any type of recruitment, it is imperative to establish a job description. This is done by carrying out a precise inventory of its needs for the position to be filled. In the event that the position is recently vacated for which the description already exists, it may be appropriate to update it.

The essential information that must appear on a job description is:

• The precise title of the position;
• The expected professional skills;
• Missions;
• The advantages;
• The recruitment process.

Careful preparation of the job offer

Once the job description is established, it is necessary to prepare correctly its recruitment announcement. This is essential for the success of an internal recruitment campaign.

A well-written job posting must include the following information:

• The title of the position to be filled;
• The missions of the position to be filled;
• The desired profile (professional and complementary skills).

Sharing the job offer within the company

The immediate next step in preparing the job offer is its dissemination throughout the company. The different channels that can be used for this purpose include:

• Company billboards;
• The mailbox of the company’s employees;
• The company’s internal messaging.

It is advisable here to use all means by which the company’s staff can be made aware of the existence of the job offer. Organizing a meeting for this purpose may also be an option to consider.

Gathering information on potential job candidates

During an internal mobility, it is not enough to consult the CV and cover letter of the employees interested in the position to be filled.

It is also advisable to get closer to the candidates’ managers to learn more about each of them.

Preparing a roadmap to optimize the job interview

Before the meeting with the candidates, it is essential to prepare for the job interview to ensure that it will occur in optimal conditions.

To this end, it is necessary to prepare a list of questions to be asked of the candidates. It is important to be careful that these issues are relevant to the position to be filled.

Assessment of candidates’ competencies

As required by any type of recruitment, it is also necessary to assess the professional skills of the candidates who will volunteer for the post to be filled.

Indeed, although the target of internal recruitment is the staff of the structure, it should be recalled that there is no guarantee that candidates have the necessary skills to assume the responsibilities of the new position.

This is even less likely when it comes to a newly created position.

Following the assessment of a candidate’s professional competencies, the candidate’s soft skills will also need to be assessed. We are talking about skills such as adaptability, improvisation and many others.

The choice of the candidate

The rest of the recruitment process is to choose the ideal candidate. Once this choice has been made, it will be time to start preparing for the arrival of the employee at their new workstation. This will obviously require less effort due to the fact that they were already part of the structure.

Support for candidates

It is essential that when organizing internal mobility, the recruiter provides follow-up to candidates throughout the process. It comes down to giving them feedback on a regular basis, whether they end up getting the job or not.

More importantly, it is essential to explain to candidates who have not been selected for the position the reasons for this choice. This should reduce their frustration. Indeed, it is imperative to ensure that a social climate is maintained in the company after internal recruitment.

Do you want to succeed in your internal recruitment?

Employee reviews can be useful to find out what your employees think of your company before proceeding with internal mobility.

For this purpose, the Custplace platform provides your company, after registration, with a dedicated page where your employees will be able to leave their opinions. You will also be able to respond to these reviews. This is a great opportunity to check the status of your employer brand and make the right decisions to optimize your internal recruitment strategy. Click here to learn more about the offer now.