When looking to fill a new building services engineering vacancy, there are two ways that engineering consultants can go about the process. They can either rely on external recruitment or go with internal promotion, which according to experts is often overlooked. Internal promotion is the practice of looking within the company to fill a position. As is the case with an external hire using a recruitment agent, there are specific pros and cons of hiring internally.
Advantages of Internal Promotion
There are several benefits that come with developing a proper internal promotion function. From better employee engagement to shorter hiring time, here are some of the pros that companies can expect from internal promotion.
Improve Employee Engagement
One of the most significant advantages of internal promotion is the impact on existing employees. When word gets out that the company is looking to hire internally, that boosts the morale of existing employees. Even the engineers that don’t get the position are excited by the prospect of future career growth. As a result, the mood in the workplace improves significantly.
That can help drive results and improve organisational performance. Not only that, but it’ll also help significantly improve employee retention and help create a more loyal workforce.
Reduce Time to Hire
Time is money in the building services industry, much like other competitive industries on the market. A significant advantage of internal promotion over external recruitment is that it takes a lot less time. The company will already be familiar with the internal candidates, which means that they can skip over many tedious steps.
Internal promotion helps save time after the hire as well. There’s no need to spend any time worrying about integrating the new hire as they’re already familiar with the company culture. It also reduces the need for additional training information as the employee will already be familiar with most of the processes.
Lower Cost
Internal promotion costs significantly lower than external recruitment, but that’s not the only way it helps keep costs down. Engineering companies save more money by reducing the time to hire and having lower on-boarding times. Additionally, it helps reduce the amount of money that the company has to allocate towards training new engineers on the team.
By keeping the costs from the recruitment process minimal, organisations can dedicate resources towards other aspects of the business that require investment!
These are some of the advantages that organisations can expect from developing an internal promotion function. Even though there are some key advantages, it’s important to consider the disadvantages before making the final decision.
Disadvantages of Internal promotion
Some of the disadvantages of internal promotion include employee discontent and a limited pool of applicants. Here’s a quick rundown of the disadvantages that organisations can expect by relying on internal promotion.
May Lead to Employee Discontent
In an ideal world where everyone wants the best for each other, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, engineers are known for having a competitive streak. It can be difficult for employees to adjust to a new boss who was once a peer in any workplace. The shift in roles and responsibilities can be harder for certain employees to embrace.
It can also be demoralising for the employees that applied for the role and didn’t land the job. Their feelings can also change over time and lead to them becoming bitter.
Constantly Plugging Gaps
One of the main constraints of internal promotion is that it’s essentially filling a new role, but it’s also opening up an entirely new position. When company’s recruit internally, they have to shift employees around to fill the position being left by the promoted employee. Often, it becomes challenging for companies to constantly shuffle their workforce around to fill these gaps.
That’s why many times, companies will turn towards external recruitment to hire new talent.
Limited Pool of Applicants
Even the proudest companies will have to sometimes admit that sometimes their employees don’t have what the company needs in a new hire. Regardless of talent level, sometimes the company can seriously restrict themselves by going with internal recruiting. It also completely ignores the idea that someone with a different industry could bring unique ideas to solve problems.
Conclusion
Developing an internal promotion process can help the organisation if they’re looking to fill in a position quickly and save money. However, in certain situations, it can seriously hamper an engineering company’s recruitment process. That’s why a lot of times, organisations employ a mix of both external and internal promotion!
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Danny Main is a co-owner & Director at Responsum Global. He has over 15 years’ experience matching the top building services engineering talent with the best employers. He has over 100 written success stories. He’s active on LinkedIn, is a host on The Building Services Podcast, and a regular writer on The Building Services Blog. He loves football, talking properties and owns a cat that is bigger than his dog.
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