Internal Talent Mobility in 2025 for a Frozen Labor Market

With hiring activity slowing and fewer candidates changing roles, internal talent mobility is playing a more central role in how companies fill critical skills gaps.  In 2024, 39% of roles were filled by internal candidates, up from 32% the year before. More than half of TA leaders say they plan to increase that percentage in 2025. The U.S. labor market continues to show signs of contraction. From January 2023 to February 2025:

• Job openings decreased by 27%
• New hires decreased by 15%
• Voluntary resignations decreased by 17%. 

 

Within a frozen labor market, more companies are turning to internal mobility to strengthen their workforce from within. Nearly 70% of TA leaders say internal mobility is receiving greater investment and focus in 2025. Talent teams are investing in skills inventories and improving internal movement processes to identify skill gaps early and respond with targeted development. This approach helps organizations build critical capabilities and retain employees who may otherwise look elsewhere for growth.In 2025, Talent Acquisition (TA) teams are shifting their focus inward to fill roles, retain top performers, and strengthen organizational agility.

Key Goals of Internal Mobility Hiring Strategies

Based on our survey of 219 companies, the main goals of internal mobility hiring strategies in 2024 include:

1. Retaining Talent

Retention remains a top priority. Offering growth and development opportunities within the organization helps retain valuable employees who might otherwise seek opportunities elsewhere.

2. Strengthening Professional Development 

Organizations are increasingly focusing on professional development, helping employees build their skills and advance their careers internally.

3. Upskilling or Reskilling Employees 

Fewer new, experienced talent is entering organizations, making it harder to acquire new capabilities through external hiring. To keep pace, companies are focusing on reskilling internal talent as a primary way to build the skills of the future.

5 Best Practices for an Effective Internal Mobility Program

To successfully implement and execute internal mobility strategies, TA leaders can follow these best practices:

1. Communicate Internal Mobility Opportunities Proactively

A key challenge for many Internal Mobility programs is building awareness. Half of current employees say that they aren’t aware of internal opportunities within the firm, and entry level talent are even more likely to be in the dark. As a first step, Talent Acquisition teams need to over-communicate opportunities for Internal Mobility.

2. Get Manager Buy-In

Employees rate managers as the most important resource for facilitating Internal Mobility, but for managers, Internal Mobility can feel like giving up talent without any compensatory reward.

Tactics to get managers bought in:

• Make Internal Mobility worthwhile for managers. To bring managers onboard, make Internal Mobility feel like a tradeoff where managers get something valuable for what they’re giving up. 

• Hold individual, proactive conversations with managers to surface their specific concerns with Internal Mobility (e.g., lost talent, backfill concerns, time/effort for succession planning, unknowns of bringing in new talent vs. current talent on the team).

• Bring hiring managers detailed plans for how TA will support Internal Mobility.

3. Focus the Narrative on Benefits of Internal Mobility for Employees

Driving employee interest in Internal Mobility hinges on telling a compelling and clear story about the benefits of Internal Mobility and specifically, how Internal Mobility opportunities help move employees forward in their career. Tie Internal Mobility to eventual promotion opportunities or to growing specific skills to underscore the benefits of Internal Mobility for employees; these are the two most important things to employees when it comes to Internal Mobility.

4. Standardize Structure for Internal Recruitment

Most companies house responsibilities for Internal Mobility within TA with recruiters carrying both internal and external requisitions, as opposed to Internal Mobility being owned within Human Resources or Talent Management.

Adopt a 3-pronged approach to sharing Internal Mobility opportunities to drive awareness and applications:

1. Share on your internal job board (if available)
2. Share in an internal email announcement
3. Share with managers, highlighting roles relevant to their department

Consider sharing job openings internally before posting them externally if increasing your internal fill rate is a strategic goal.

5. Standardize Internal Mobility Process

Putting a consistent process in place for Internal Mobility increases efficacy and reduces strain on TA teams.

• Establish criteria for Internal Mobility eligibility – consider employee performance, skills matching, business need, but not employee seniority.

• Internal candidates should be required to submit full application (with current manager approval).

• Skip the recruiter screening interview – internal candidates can move directly to the first interview with the hiring manager.

• Run a tailored onboarding process – to increase time to productivity, skip company-wide sessions and only require internal candidates to attend new departmental and team onboarding sessions.

How Leading Companies are Investing in Internal Mobility

Some organizations are using internal mobility not just to fill roles, but to reduce costs and support retention.

One global tech company used an AI-based matching tool to pair impacted employees with open internal roles. The effort helped the company save $1 million and retain valuable talent during a period of layoffs.

Another company implemented an open internal job market where employees could apply to any position without waiting periods. Removing barriers helped broaden mobility across teams and locations.

New Metrics to Support Internal Hiring Goals

Some TA teams are beginning to introduce new KPIs to guide internal mobility efforts:

• “Talent Exporter” Metric: Rewards managers who encourage strong performers to move into other roles within the company.
• Time Since Last External Hire: The amount of time since a team’s last external hire, helping leaders maintain a healthy balance between internal and external pipelines.

These metrics create structure and accountability while supporting long-term workforce planning.

Why Internal Mobility Matters in 2025

As hiring budgets tighten and external movement slows, internal mobility gives companies a flexible and cost-effective way to meet talent needs. TA leaders who invest in visibility, structure, and manager alignment are better positioned to adapt quickly and retain their strongest performers.