As noticed by many colleagues in Delegations, the recruitment procedures for vacant posts for Local Agents are advertised internally and externally at the same time. One cannot avoid asking: Why would management search by default for candidates externally, instead of first providing a path of career growth to its existing talent?
We believe that unless a Delegation is extremely small, there is always the possibility to fill the post by internal candidates.
To add insult to injury, colleagues who finally succeed in winning over any external candidates to the new post would see their work experience in the current function group “ignored” when calculating their steps in the new function.
Generation 2004 finds these recruiting practises extremely unfair and unjustified; local agents feel extremely demotivated and discouraged as they are left to feel that their professional contribution to the services are not appreciated.
From a human resources point of view, internal recruitment provides the following benefit:
- Less risk
The internal candidate has already passed through a selection process and the institution already has the track record of the performance of the staff members.
- Fast incorporation to working environment
New recruits from the internal pool will hit the ground running and their adaptation period is almost guaranteed to be shorter than that of an external hire.
- Better performance
As supported by the research of Wharton [1]: …[..] According to Wharton management professor Matthew Bidwell, “external hires” get significantly lower performance evaluations for their first two years on the job than do internal workers who are promoted into similar jobs. They also have higher exit rates, and they are paid “substantially more.” His research is presented in a paper titled, “Paying More to Get Less: The Effects of External Hiring versus Internal Mobility.”
- Better staff morale
Promotion from within sends a strong signal that the Commission values its staff, and commitment. According to research launched by a global people management business Penna [2], lack of career development is a major reason for staff to leave their employer.
Therefore, Generation 2004 advocates a renewed approach from DG HR to launch vacant posts in Delegation first via internal recruitment and save the external recruitment procedure only in case the former fails to identify a candidate. This measure is also a budget friendly exercise, so there are no reasons why DG HR would oppose this.
As usual, we would like to hear your opinion. So, don’t hesitate to contact us [3].