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Finding the right talent has always been a challenge and, right now, you’re competing in a smaller talent pool. In June 2024, the U.S. had 8.1 million job openings and only 6.8 million unemployed workers. These uncomfortable stats beg a different approach to recruiting and talent development.
The answer lies within your company: your people. While you could still face understaffing issues, the search for candidates for those skilled, hard-to-fill roles should start from within. This is where a talent marketplace becomes a powerful tool to guide your employees through developing new skills and following career paths to those hard-to-fill roles.
In this post, we’ll cover what a talent marketplace is, how it helps both your internal talent and company, and practical ways to implement your own marketplace. Let’s get started.
What is a talent marketplace?
A talent marketplace, sometimes called a career marketplace, is a platform that connects internal talent with job and skill development opportunities within your company. It serves as a hub where employees can explore career opportunities based on their current role, their skillset, and their own interests and aspirations. A talent marketplace platform serves as a bridge between employees who are hungry for growth and development and your company's current and future talent needs.
How does an internal talent marketplace platform work?
We now know what a talent marketplace is, but how does it work? Here’s how these systems connect employees to your company’s staffing needs:
- Centralized platform: The talent marketplace serves as one central hub accessible to all employees, providing a user-friendly interface where they can browse and explore available opportunities.
- Opportunity listings: The marketplace shows all your company’s available opportunities, including projects and assignments, professional mentoring programs, and professional development courses. These listings can provide details about role/project skill requirements and connect employees with opportunities to develop those skills.
- Employee profiles: Your employees can create profiles within the talent marketplace, highlighting their skills, experiences, and long term career goals. Profiles help both employees and talent managers find suitable matches.
- Matching algorithms: Using intelligent matching algorithms, talent marketplace software can match employees with different learning and development initiatives as well as internal positions they’re a good fit for. This makes sure employees are shown only relevant and personalized opportunities that align with their aspirations, contributing to talent market mapping.
- Feedback: After an employee matches with an opportunity or completes any kind of professional development, they can provide feedback on the program and outcomes, giving you and your team insights into how the marketplace is helping and how you can improve it.
By providing a platform like an internal talent marketplace, you empower employees to take ownership of their professional development in an easily accessible way while making it easier for hiring and talent management teams to fill those challenging roles.
Ways talent marketplaces help your company
Allowing your employees to thrive and grow within your organization is a key component of building an inclusive, forward-thinking, and high-performing workplace culture. A marketplace helps HR and L&D teams to uncover potential in your employees and support them in achieving that potential. Here are just a few of the benefits of talent marketplace platforms:
- Empower and engage employees: When employees have easy access to growth and development opportunities, they feel empowered to take ownership of their growth. Employee empowerment leads to higher engagement and a more proactive workforce.
- Internal talent development: Providing opportunities for your staff to grow and gain career mobility, it helps you fill challenging roles and improves your leadership succession planning.
- Improve retention: Employees are far more likely to stay if their company offers learning and development opportunities. Employees who are learning and growing are far more satisfied with their jobs and more committed to the company.
- Build creative flow: Since a talent marketplace can connect employees with many different opportunities, it increases collaboration and knowledge-sharing between individuals and between departments.
- Personalize learning and development: One-size-fits-all training often falls short in meeting the unique needs and aspirations of your employees. Talent marketplaces give your employees more freedom of choice and ownership over their learning journey to meet their goals.
- Get insights to improve: Understanding employee preferences, skills, and engagement levels within the platform allows HR or L&D teams to identify areas to improve their program for better talent allocation, succession planning, and future skill needs.
Help your internal talent get the most out of your marketplace
Implementing a career marketplace has many benefits, but it does take thoughtful planning and execution. Here are a few key considerations as you implement your talent marketplace platform:
1. Clearly define objectives and align with company direction
Before launching your internal talent marketplace, defining your goals and ensuring they feed into broader company strategy are key. Identify the specific goals you want to achieve, whether it’s creating more internal mobility, improving retention and engagement, or preparing your organization for future skill needs, these objectives will help guide your implementation strategy and help you measure success.
2. Discuss with stakeholders and communicate the benefits
Working with your senior and executive leadership team, managers, and the employee end-users throughout the planning and implementation process is key to getting—and keeping—everyone on board. Communicate the benefits and emphasize the ways a talent marketplace contributes to growth and success for employees as individuals as well as the company as a whole. Be sure to address any concerns or questions to make sure everyone understands and sees the value of the talent marketplace platform.
3. Choose a user-friendly platform
The success of your talent marketplace hinges on its ease of use. Choosing a user-friendly software that integrates with the systems you already have in place, such as your human resources information system (HRIS) and your learning management system (LMS), makes it a lot easier for you to administer the program and for your employees to get the most benefit from it. Along with ease of use, giving employees a variety of learning and growth pathways—whether it’s third-party, internal, or a mix of both—will contribute to successful outcomes.
4. Build a supportive culture of learning
An internal talent marketplace is most effective when the team culture supports continuous learning and collaboration. Encourage a growth mindset in your employees by providing the resources, training, and support they need in order to pursue new knowledge, skills, and opportunities. Get managers on board in supporting their team’s participation in the talent marketplace and recognize and reward those who demonstrate a commitment to learning and development.
5. Evaluate and iterate
A talent marketplace isn’t a one-and-done implementation. You’ll need to regularly evaluate and improve the platform and its offerings. The needs of your employees and your organization are going to change over time, and the talent marketplace platform needs to reflect that. Seek feedback from users, managers, and leadership to make sure the platform is still relevant, valuable, and sustainable then make changes.
The role of mentorship in a talent marketplace
A well-planned and well-rounded internal talent marketplace includes a variety of learning and growth opportunities. Mentorship can be a powerful part of those opportunities. A mentoring program helps bridge knowledge gaps, share expertise, and provide guidance and advice, giving employees the support and confidence to take on new challenges and opportunities at work.
Here are a few reasons why a workplace mentoring program is a great addition to your marketplace:
Knowledge-sharing and professional development
Mentors serve as valuable sources of wisdom and experience, sharing insights and knowledge that may not be readily available through traditional learning paths and programs. This knowledge-sharing helps employees get a deeper understanding of their roles, their professional development, and industry best practices.
Networking and relationship-building
Either a traditional one-on-one mentorship relationship or peer mentor programs gives employees the opportunity to build meaningful connections within the company and improve internal networking. These connections open doors to potential collaborations and avenues for career advancement. Mentors can also introduce their mentees to people within their own network, further expanding their mentee’s network.
Career guidance and personal development
Mentors can help mentees by providing guidance and support in navigating career paths while providing encouragement and constructive feedback. This kind of support builds self-assurance in mentees, giving them confidence to overcome challenges and take steps towards achieving their goals. Increased confidence translates into higher levels of engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction that also bleeds into their personal life and development.
Start building your internal talent marketplace
A talent marketplace platform, if done right, can be the pillar for all learning and development in your company. Not only will a centralized place for L&D help you manage and administer programs, it will make it far easier for your employees to participate and see real value from these opportunities.
Want to get started? Together can help. Request a demo and our experts will help guide you through planning, talent market mapping, and rolling it all out.
