Look inside: Could your next star candidate or career move be internal?
May 14, 2022

​The battle for talent. The great resignation. The skills gap. Whatever you call it, more and more organisations are finding it tough to fill roles. The fight for eligible candidates is fierce and it can leave organisations feeling like they are constantly losing out on the skills they need to meet their goals. In a recent McKinsey Talks Talent podcast, McKinsey leaders Bryan Hancock and Bill Schaninger speak with associate partner Emily Field to ask “is the best talent hiding in plain sight?”

 

But it’s not just employers who can benefit from focusing on and developing internal talent, ambitious workers can also reap the rewards of seeking out internal learning and development opportunities and looking at the career benefits of choosing internal roles. In this blog, we explore some of the key talking points from the podcast alongside tips for candidates and employers on thinking internally.

 

Bridge talent gaps internally


During the discussion, Emily talked about the importance of creating an internal digital marketplace:


“A digital talent marketplace reveals who within your organisation wants new opportunities—it’s about identifying talent, their skills, and their openness to take on new roles.”


Traditionally the capabilities of internal jobs networks have been limited. Roles are not widely advertised and only those candidates who are actively seeking a particular role in a particular area will move upwards. Digital marketplaces open everything up – enabling candidates to show off their skills and capabilities and be matched with relevant roles. A successful internal marketplace opens up a huge pool of talent to hiring managers while creating visibility across the organisation.

 

Look for skills and attributes, not accolades


We’ve known for a while that some job listings can be overly restrictive and screen out potentially strong candidates for arbitrary criteria. As Bill mentions on the podcast:


“The question becomes where can we change — but not lower — the bar to open up the funnel, so people can become aware that their qualifications are close to those required for open roles?”


When creating an internal labour pool, organisations should consider carefully which skills are really necessary to the success of a role. They should also consider transferable skills and whether they should be thinking about people who have some of the skills required and could shine with supplemental training.

 

The benefits of an internal career move for employees


The benefits of sticking with a current employer can be huge for employees. Emily summed it up neatly in the conversation with Bill and Bryan:


“From the individual’s perspective, the benefit is massive. Employees are able to stay at the organisation they’ve chosen to be at. They’re able to transition to a role that they’re a match for already, or perhaps that requires them to learn a couple of skills.”


If you love where you work and the people you work with, but you’re also ambitious and driven it can feel like you have no option but to look outside your current company. This isn’t always the case. Always take the time to examine internal career and learning opportunities, it might be the best way to accelerate your jobs search.


Here are some quick tips for candidates and employers that are thinking about internal roles:

 

Tips for candidates


·     Make connections across departments and business areas.


·     Actively search for learning and development opportunities.


·     Identify your passion and look for opportunities to grow it internally – even if that means thinking outside of your current specialism.


·     Make your desire to stay and grow with the company known.

 

Tips for employers


·     Consider people with transferable skills across every area of your business.


·     Reconsider the skills and barriers attached to every role.


·     Give current employees the space to say they are open to new challenges.


·     Consider how technology can enhance your internal talent pool.

 

Internal talent pools are often overlooked. Make sure your organisation isn’t making this mistake. By developing robust internal talent pools and internal talent marketplaces, everybody wins.

14 Aug, 2023
Rephrasing the famous song, “Love is in the air”, let’s talk about change is in the air – and everywhere. We grow. We change. Look at your childhood photos. Watch your kid, your nephew, your niece. The change is there, and it’s incredible. Nature is constantly changing. We wait for summer as the time to enjoy outdoor activities and gardening, for a quick visit to the beach, or simply take time to relax and spend time with family, friends and loved ones. We wait for winter (even if we never see snow falling) to decorate the house for the holidays, pack presents for the people we love and unpack our own. The colour of the leaves changes, the weather shifts, and flowers blossom in their time – the landscape is constantly transforming. The world around us is changing. We travel to other countries and learn new things, cultures and languages. We take on new hobbies. We get new skills. After a couple of minor kitchen accidents (sometimes), we can cook delicious dishes and get compliments from family and friends. We transform our bodies at the gym or simply by creating the habit of walking every day. We meet new people, we sometimes fall in love, we build families, we have kids. And if you step back for a second, you realise you might have met your other half by pure accident. But you took a leap of faith into the unknown. We embrace many types of unknown change, except for the one that can change how we live five days a week – to change jobs. “I am too old/too young to change”, “I’m used to this environment; It’s my comfort zone”, “Well, I don’t get any promotion, and what I do doesn’t change the world, but it’s stable”, “I am afraid to ask for more interesting projects. What if my manager fires me?”. We often don’t want to change because that step requires a vision, courage, external support, and a leap of faith into the unknown. Scary? Yes. But also promising. A step into the unknown? Yes. But it can open a new door. Do your inner values marry what you do? Yes, it is essential. There is nothing terrible about staying in your comfort zone. At some stage of your career, staying put can be an excellent decision. But if you feel that you need a change – talk to Kelly. We don’t mind going the extra mile and support your wish to embrace the change. The one which will give meaning to what you do, feel proud, motivated and fulfilled. Ready for changing? We’ll make sure your talent can truly shine.
10 Aug, 2023
You’ve seen these guys before when a circus came to your city or maybe on TV. They walk on a wire at an impressive height, sometimes without insurance, sometimes with a long stick that probes the void right and left. They walk slowly, trying the wire with their toes first, making small steps, their eyes fixed on the small platform where they plan to land soon. They never watch down. They don’t listen to an audience that applauses or gasps in awe. They are concentrated on keeping their balance. To keep balance. Let’s come down from the wire above the arena or stage. Let’s look closer at balance, where it has its roots and the secrets of keeping it. Is it an art? Or is it a skill? Can you learn to keep balance? Or is it an innate skill that only gymnasts, figure skaters, circus artists and ballet dancers are born with? Want to know the secrets of a ballerina that must perform 32 fouettes, a complex ballet movement that requires turning 360 degrees at a high-speed standing on the point of a ballet shoe? First, keeping balance is a skill people must learn for years. In ballet, sport, circus, real life, and… work life. A ballerina is taught to pick one point and to fix her eyes on it when she makes her 32 fouettes, a complex ballet movement that requires turning 360 degrees at high-speed standing on the point of a ballet shoe. She focuses on one thing that keeps her upright. She doesn’t look anywhere else. Gymnasts in some disciplines are constantly trained to feel the bar under their feet. They are prepared to land precisely on the bar after they jump, and the incredible contortions we admire in competitions. But let’s come back to the circus artists we have begun with. Often, they have a long stick in their hands to keep their balance. Is their secret hidden in the stick? And what is the secret? You don’t need to be a ballet dancer, a gymnast, or a circus artist to get the idea of balance. Here are your first two steps in your balance training: 1. Keep your main priorities in mind. And have a clear idea about what is very important for you and where you are ready to compromise. But don’t listen to external opinions that don’t align with your ideals. Forget about the audience’s applause – focus on you. 2. Use some help to stay upright and get to your goals. Imagine your life split on two ends of the helping stick, your job is on one end, and your private life is on another. How comfortable do you feel at your height now with the load on both ends? You need support. We at Kelly pay a lot of attention to balance. The balance between people’s private lives and their jobs. The balance between feeling appreciated and professional goals or between achieving extraordinary results and being inspired. Talk to Kelly today. We are not ballet coaches or sports trainers, but we know much about how important work/life balance is in our lives.
03 Aug, 2023
We often associate certain qualities with individuals who seem to possess a natural talent for creativity. We convince ourselves that painting, singing, or dancing are pursuits reserved for these "real" artists while we remain mere spectators. Creativity? Inspiration? No, it's not about me.
Share by: