Internal Mobility Opportunities

I lead internal mobility programs at Google and it's heartening to see we're #1 on this list of companies for career growth. Internally, we are constantly raising the bar on how we can offer *more* career growth opportunities for Googlers. This ranking is a good reminder of all the amazing programs we already offer Googlers looking to grow and expand their skills & experiences. While there are many programs that Googlers can leverage for career growth, these three programs below are particularly impactful & unique to Google that I've personally also taken advantage of: 1️⃣ Bungees: Google's bungee program allows any Googler to express interest in a short-term (6-12 months) role to cover for another Googler on leave. This is such a unique offering that ensures that important work is continued to be covered AND gives Googlers an opportunity to explore a different role and expand their own skills and experience. 2️⃣ 20% roles: Googlers can sign up for 20% roles that can vary from being a career coach, an ERG lead, or working on a specific team/project while also continuing to spend 80% of their time on their full-time role. This allows Googlers to experiment and explore new opportunities without compromising on their work portfolios and deliverables as the 20% role becomes part of their full-time role expectations. 3️⃣ Education reimbursement: I've attended conferences, completed certification programs, and expanded my personal skills thanks to Google's generous education reimbursement policies. What's unique about Google's education reimbursement process is that it's easy to understand, navigate, and get approvals so Googlers are more likely to submit these requests and take advantage of opportunities to learn and grow outside of formal workplace trainings. Because of these career growth and mobility offerings, Google has been able to retain top talent and continues to be a best place to work. #LifeAtGoogle #ThriveAtGoogle #CareerGrowth #InternalMobilityAtGoogle #CareerDevelopmentPrograms #MobilityPrograms

The hidden $4.3 million cost nobody's talking about? Letting your own people walk out the door while recruiting externally for the same skills. 🤦♀️ LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends shows that companies with high internal mobility have employees who stay nearly 2x as long as those with low internal mobility. Yet when I ask executives about their internal mobility programs, I get blank stares or vague references to an outdated job board. The math isn't complicated: • External candidate: $4K+ to recruit, 44 days to fill, months to ramp up • Internal candidate: Already trained, cultural fit proven, ready to contribute day one So why are we making it so hard for people to move within our organizations? I recently spoke with a tech leader who was shocked to discover 40% of the roles he was desperately trying to fill externally matched the career aspirations of employees who were already leaving. They were literally recruiting for skills they were simultaneously losing. This is madness. The companies winning the talent war aren't just posting jobs internally. They're fundamentally redesigning how work moves through their organization. They're asking better questions ↳ "What if we looked at skills, not just job titles?" ↳ "What if we made internal moves as easy as applying externally?" ↳ "What if managers were rewarded for developing people, not hoarding them?" Good talent is already inside your company. You're just making it impossible for them to find their next opportunity with you. When employees can't grow with you, they'll grow without you. #InternalMobility #TalentRetention #FutureOfWork #SkillsStrategy

Following up on my earlier post about navigating Dubai’s competitive job market, I want to take a closer look at tip number two: Explore opportunities within your current organisation. Over 11 years ago, I moved from London to Dubai with Barclays. This move was a result of exploring internal opportunities and taking the initiative to align my career goals with the organisation’s growth strategy. It proved to be a pivotal step in my career, and I encourage others to consider the possibilities within their current employer. Here is how you can approach this effectively: 💬 Start the conversation: Speak to your manager about your career aspirations and interest in roles or projects in Dubai. Transparency and proactive dialogue can open unexpected doors. 🤝🏾 Build cross-departmental relationships: Networking internally with colleagues from other teams can help you discover opportunities you may not have been aware of, especially in regions like the UAE. 📚 Upskill and align: Engage in internal training, mentoring, or projects that position you as a candidate ready to take on new challenges, including international roles. 📊 Pitch a business case: If your company is not yet in the UAE, consider presenting a business case. Highlight market trends, potential growth areas, and the strategic value of expanding into the region. Showcase your understanding and readiness to contribute to this initiative. 🌟 Stay visible: Deliver consistent results in your current role, and volunteer for stretch assignments or UAE-related projects to demonstrate your potential and commitment. “The grass isn’t greener on the other side. It’s greener where you water it.” Have you explored internal opportunities in your organisation? Let me know your thoughts or experiences below! Here are my full top five tips: 🦄 Highlight your unique value proposition. 🌍 Explore opportunities within your existing company. ✈️ Visit and network on the ground. 💻 Utilise online platforms. 🏆 Be committed and consistent. You can watch the original LinkedIn video here: https://lnkd.in/d8VRdfZe #JobSearchTips #CareerGrowth #DubaiOpportunities #InternalOpportunities #CareerAdvice

A LinkedIn learning study highlighted that when people change jobs internally, their perception of growth opportunities greatly increases, and they're 75% more likely to stay with their company for longer than two years. David Landman, and the team at Goldman Sachs, came to the same conclusion. While they had always experienced a robust movement of talent across the firm, they realized that there was still a good portion of their people who found it difficult to navigate internal mobility at Goldman. Rather than attempting to navigate an internal move, people were choosing to leave instead. So, through extensive employee listening and focus groups related to internal mobility, David and his team identified 3 key opportunities for improvement. ⬇️ 1️⃣ Access & Visibility Employees couldn’t see the various pathways and opportunities within Goldman Sachs. To solve this, they implemented tech to give employees’ visibility into how their skills align with the opportunities available. 2️⃣ Mindset Change Managers were having difficulty letting go of their team members because of the perceived difficulty in finding replacements. They needed to shift the mindset from a mindset of talent scarcity to one of talent abundance by developing an ecosystem for talent mobility and creating a supply-demand balance of talent within the organization. “If that manager knows that if they develop that person, help them find their next role, there’s 10 other people waiting because we’ve got an ecosystem of shared talent, and in a way in which we can connect the supply and demand of talent. That’s going to actually help start to change that mindset.” 3️⃣ Policy reform The third opportunity was with Goldman Sachs’s policies regarding employee mobility, specifically policies dictating how long an employee should stay in their current job before being eligible for the next one, and the length of the transition period. So, they standardized these policies, and aligned them with their intention of encouraging more mobility within the organization. Link to the full episode in the comments. ________ 🔔 Want more MPL content? Follow our page or subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. #internalmobility #talentmobility #HR #CHRO #humanresources #talentdevelopment #HRpodcast #humanresourcespodcast #modernpeopleleader

"I'm stuck in my role, but I don't know what else I'd want to do." Sound familiar? I shared a clarity tool on Prashha Dutra's podcast — the Gig Assignment Approach. Here’s the part most companies miss: Your best talent is often your most restless talent. They’re top performers in their current roles... But quietly browsing LinkedIn thinking, “what’s next?” Instead of losing them to a competitor — what if you gave them room to explore... within your walls? Enter: The Four Career Quadrant Model ↓ What you thrive at (and love doing) What you want to learn (growth opportunities) What you succeed at (but drains you) What you feel obligated to do (but shouldn’t) Smart orgs are using this framework to build internal gig opportunities. What this looks like in real life: → Your marketing director shadows the product team → Your finance lead pilots a people ops project → Your engineer dives into customer success The magic isn’t just in the shift — it’s in the reflection: What energized you? What felt like work? What surprised you about yourself? This is not just retention. (It is that — employee retention rises 40% when people feel heard.) But it’s also smart strategy. ✔️ Cross-functional innovation increases ✔️ Internal hiring reduces recruiting costs ✔️ Engagement skyrockets ✔️ Hidden strengths are uncovered One client — an analyst — felt boxed in. Through gig assignments, she uncovered an interest for L&D. Today? She leads Learning & Development for her division. It started with this one question: “What would you explore if failure wasn’t an option?” Let them answer. Then create safe space to try. 🎧 Full episode here: https://lnkd.in/eR7veqzf HR Leaders — what could gig opportunities unlock in your team? ♻️ Repost this if your org could benefit from this model. #GigAssignments #CareerDevelopment #TalentRetention #InternalMobility #EmployeeEngagement #HRLeadership #CareerExploration #WorkforceInnovation #MindfulLeadership #ProfessionalGrowth #OrganizationalDevelopment

12 Opportunities for HR in 2024 https://lnkd.in/epavB9fS #6 Build the skills-based organisation Talent gaps and shortages represent the most pressing challenge that companies face (58), with three-quarters of CEOs being concerned about how the availability of key skills will impact on their growth strategies (59). These talent scarcity challenges will only be exacerbated by shrinking working populations – especially in the G7 economies (60) and rapid advances in technology meaning that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted by 2028 (61). This is leading to a shift from the traditional focus on jobs to one on skills (62) and the continued rollout of internal talent marketplaces (63, 64) with one study finding that 90% of companies are moving towards a skills-based approach (65). The effort to do so should not be underestimated with the same study finding that less than 20% are currently adopting skills-based approaches to a significant extent. While it is still early days, benefits cited by companies that have made this shift include: 1️⃣ Standard Chartered unlocking productivity of $2.1m from a talent marketplace pilot in India (66, 67), 2️⃣ IBM improving diversity through skills-based hiring (68), 3️⃣ Unilever increasing productivity by 40% and significantly reducing attrition through its internal talent marketplace (69), and; 4️⃣ J&J democratising career development and mobility for its employees (70). The undoubted potential of skills-based approaches for hiring, learning, internal mobility, compensation, and workforce planning is tantalising, but it also makes it difficult for organisations to know where to start. HR can help by identifying a challenge in a specific business function and/or location, partnering with a senior business stakeholder and piloting a skills-based approach, starting to build a skills taxonomy, and then learning and iterating as you go. "As companies jostle to build a complete picture of what they need (for the future of work) and how to get there, we’re fast learning that the real currency is skills" Placid Jover, Chief Talent Officer at Unilever (71) See the full article for all 2024 opportunities, and an extensive list of references. This opportunity features references from: Jens, Vinciane, Julie, Jean-Michel, Dr. Philipp, Fang, Alexander, Anthony, Kai H., Bob Lucas, Wilson, James, Andrew, Nicole, Attilio, Sam, Elselot, Till, Ricky LI, Mark, Saadia, Josh Bersin, Kathi Enderes, Bo, Jonathan, Pablo, Patryk, Bettina, Jeff, Jeroen, Susan, Michael, Robin, Julie, Tanuj, Christina Norris-Watts, Doug, Nickle #humanresources #peopleanalytics #workforceplanning #talentmarketplace #culture #employeeexperience #leadership #wellbeing #diversity #learning #hrtech #futureofwork #strategy #2024predictions #ethics

Just got back from Ascend 2025 @ Orlando - what did I learn? I came across a feature that was new to me, though perhaps familiar to some: Opportunity Marketplace. Oracle Gigs! Thanks to Kenneth C. Frank And I haven’t stopped thinking about it. The Rise of the “Opportunity Marketplace” — #Gamechanger or #Threat? Jobs are long-term opportunities that can be offered to employees or external candidates. At its core, the Opportunity Marketplace empowers internal talent mobility—connecting stretch assignments, short-term gigs, and open internal roles with employees looking to grow, contribute, and move across the organization. ✅ Employees get visibility. ✅ Leaders get untapped talent. ✅ Organizations maximize ROI on existing people. Sounds like a win-win, right? Yes—and perhaps a wake-up call. Because if deployed well, this feature could significantly #reduce dependency on #external #staffing, especially for project-based needs, stretch roles, or emerging tech initiatives. From a business standpoint, here’s what I see: For clients: this is a strategic shift toward workforce optimization—keeping costs down and retention up. For internal talent: it’s a launchpad for career growth, skill development, and visibility. For staffing firms: this could be a disruptive force—we may lose project gigs and backfill opportunities that now get absorbed internally. But here’s the twist: staffing firms that ignore this trend may become obsolete. Those that embrace it—by helping clients build, structure, or optimize their Opportunity Marketplace—could become strategic talent advisors, not just suppliers. The future is changing. The question is: will we react defensively—or evolve proactively? Curious to hear from HR tech leaders, TA heads, and my fellow staffing peers—what are your thoughts on Opportunity Marketplace? Is it a friend, foe… or both? #TalentMobility

Are your team members using all their top skills effectively? Are they able to find the key projects that really need their skills? Have people left as they feel their value isn't fully recognized or utilized? The value and potential of your organization and business are based on the skills--and use of those skills--of EVERY person employed. Much value is NOT captured and reflected in business results as your team's and other employees' skills are NOT being fully utilized--for projects in other teams and departments that NEED those skills. Moving to a skills-based model, and recognizing that nimbler, flatter companies need to facilitate non-linear careers, establishing an internal talent marketplace is an important next step. Retention is also a critical driver as employees stay longer when their employer is helping them use and develop their skills and expand their experiences. 🤔  Are you enabling internal talent flow or stifling it? Read my new Work In Progress Report newsletter to find out the why, what, how, who, and when (now!) of Internal Talent Marketplaces and how to enable talent mobility for YOUR organization - link in the comments below 👇

Have you considered pivoting in place? 🔄 While "pivot" has become quite the buzzword, I recently discovered a new perspective on the concept. Pivoting in place doesn't necessarily mean changing companies; it's about making significant career shifts within your current organization. Reflecting on my journey at Accenture, I realized that many of my career changes have been pivots in place. From starting as a lobbyist in Government Relations to currently leading Awards & Rankings, I found new paths without leaving the company. If you're looking to make a change within your current workplace, here are some strategies to start your pivot in place: 🔹 Network and Build Relationships: - Engage with colleagues from different departments. - Attend company events and social gatherings. - Seek mentors or sponsors for guidance and support. 🔹 Explore Internal Opportunities: - Check the internal job board regularly. - Set up job alerts to stay informed about new openings. 🔹 Invest in Professional Development: - Utilize training programs to acquire new skills. - Volunteer for cross-functional projects. - Discuss your career aspirations with your manager. Pivoting in place can be a fulfilling way to explore new opportunities while staying connected to a company you value. Embrace change within your current organization and unlock new possibilities! Have you thought about pivoting or have you pivoted in place? Let me know in the comments below ⬇ #CareerDevelopment #InternalMobility #ProfessionalGrowth #careerpivot #leadwithlatisha

Executive Talent Acquisition Series: Internal Mobility: The Engine of Enterprise Growth If innovation is the spark, internal mobility is the fuel. At CVS Health, we don’t just talk about career growth—we build the infrastructure to make it happen. Best-in-class talent teams are reimagining mobility as a mindset, anchored in three core principles: -Visibility: High-potential talent is surfaced through transparent career pathways, internal job boards, and proactive succession planning. -Stretch Opportunities: Leaders are empowered to nominate talent for high-impact assignments that build strategic thinking, cross-functional collaboration, and change leadership. -Enablement: Employees are equipped with career development tools, coaching, and feedback loops that foster ownership of their growth journey. When done right, internal mobility drives measurable outcomes: higher engagement, stronger retention, and a more resilient leadership pipeline. It’s how organizations turn potential into performance—and performance into enterprise impact. Next week, I’ll explore how candidate experience shapes executive hiring outcomes—and why it’s more than just a handshake and a job offer. #ExecutiveSearch #InternalMobility #LeadershipHiring #TalentDevelopment #TAChampions #CVSHealth #CareerGrowth