The advantages of internal recruitment

Are you looking for new employees? Then read this article before you post your job advertisements. Because there may be good reasons why the ideal candidate should first put out feelers in your own company.

Below we explain everything you need to know about internal recruitment. We show you what is important when recruiting within your own company, what the advantages of internal recruitment are and what disadvantages it can entail.

What is the difference between internal and external recruitment?

There are two ways to recruit new employees. External recruitment involves recruiting new employees who are not yet part of the company. This is usually done via job advertisements or job fairs. In internal recruitment, employees already employed by the company are encouraged to change positions via internal job advertisements or are directly recommended for a promotion. Internal recruitment works via job advertisements on the intranet, on the notice board or by direct contact.

What are the advantages of internal recruitment?

Internal recruitment is advantageous in many situations. The positive aspects are for both the company and its employees.

Advantages for your company

Let’s start at this point with the primary advantages you have as an entrepreneur:

Time saving

One of the many advantages for companies is the huge time saving that comes with internal recruitment. In particular, if a staff shortage occurs abruptly, an important position can be filled much more quickly and normal work processes can be ensured. With external recruitment, it often takes weeks or months to find a suitable candidate.

The next point is the significantly shorter onboarding and induction period for the employee. If the employee only comes from another department of the company, the person is already familiar with the company processes and internal procedures. He/she knows how the company “ticks”, may even have already had an insight into the tasks and already knows one or two of the new colleagues.

Cost savings

External recruitment is very expensive. The total costs, which include various measures, must be taken into account. The placement of job advertisements is therefore only one aspect. No company can avoid digital measures anymore, which is why it is often essential to advertise on several portals, possibly repeatedly.

Booking an online ad for one month costs a three- to four-digit amount, although a contract based on a CPC rate does not always result in a significant reduction in this amount. If you want to hire a headhunter for the entire recruitment process, you often have to calculate with a five-digit amount. In addition, there are costs for personnel, software and more, all of which are greatly reduced or do not even have to be spent at all if the position is filled internally. Haufe has also published an article on the necessity and costs of recruitment measures. article worth reading worth reading.

Employee motivation and loyalty

Giving an internal employee the opportunity to take on a new position gives the person the chance to develop both professionally and personally. Your staff appreciate this because your approach shows trust and recognition. If an employee applies for an internal position, this is done consciously. This means that he/she has a great interest in the change – accordingly, a high level of self-motivation can be assumed.

Especially in times of skills shortages, employee loyalty and satisfaction are the golden key to ensuring productive and fast work processes. Together with internal recruitment, highly qualified specialist knowledge remains within the company. Investing in further training, coaching and more therefore always pays off in principle.

A little bit of security

If you are hiring new employees as part of an internal recruitment process, you will either already know them well yourself or have contacts who can give you relatively reliable information about their working style and personal character. This has the clear advantage that you know how well the person will fit into the team. External recruitment is associated with less certainty here, as you usually do not know the candidate.

Advantages for your employees

There are also clear advantages for employees in changing positions within the company.

Career opportunities

Internal job changes are often linked to a salary increase or promotion. At the same time, in many cases the employee can assume that he/she will be paid for the training and further education required for the job. These points are certainly decisive advantage factors.

Safe workplace

If employees are given the opportunity for self-realization and the chance to work on their career in their own company, they can also assume that they have job security. The stress of having to look for a new job is eliminated, which in turn has a positive effect on health, the working atmosphere and self-motivation.

Does internal recruitment also have disadvantages?

Although the advantages of internal recruitment outweigh the disadvantages, there are also reasons why some companies prefer to search externally. Limiting the search to existing staff entails the risk of simply not finding someone with the desired expertise. Furthermore, external recruitment often results in a positive upheaval in the company when new ideas are supplied from outside.

School or university graduates, but also experienced career changers, can in many cases bring a breath of fresh air into the company and break up entrenched working patterns. A rethink can in turn have a positive impact on the future of the company. In some cases, external recruitment can bring high-calibre specialists on board who are already familiar with topics such as digitalization and do not need to complete further training first.

What does internal recruitment look like in practice?

The first step is to draw up a job and task profile. Ask yourself which criteria applicants should fulfill in terms of their professional (vocational training, studies, etc.), practical (technical skills, etc.) and character (calm in stressful situations, leadership personality, etc.) in order to be considered for the vacant position. If applicable, also consider certain licenses or driving licenses within the criteria fulfillment.

Opportunities to advertise for internal positions include:

• Intranet
• Notice board
• Newsletter (possibly selected group of people)
• Employee magazine

It also makes sense to get in close contact with the team leaders in the specialist departments. They are at the source and may be able to quickly suggest suitable candidates.

How can software be an advantage in internal recruitment?

In order to take full advantage of the benefits mentioned above, it is important that you have already collected all your personnel documents digitally. When it comes to finding potential candidates for an open position, you should be able to quickly find the data you are looking for and filter it to suit your individual needs. This first step alone can be a challenge, especially for personnel-intensive companies such as trade fair companies, catering and personnel companies.

This is where Teamhero comes into play. As a customized HR software solution for comprehensive personnel planning and personnel support, our software enables the digital management of extensive HR work processes at the highest level.

☑️ Recruit the right applicants and transfer them directly to your employee database.

☑️ Enable your staff to apply for jobs easily via the same employee portal, which they can also use to record their times or change their personal data on the move.

☑️ Create and manage your appointments in which you contact and invite your applicants directly via the portal.

Curious?

You can get a detailed insight into the functions and areas of application of Teamhero on our website. Would you prefer to see results? Then browse through the success stories of our customers – or test Teamhero yourself free of charge. We look forward to getting to know you.