TL;DR
- A talent marketplace is an internal system for matching people to work: vacancies, projects, short assignments and mentoring, inside one organisation. The idea is that opportunities are visible to everyone rather than filled through whoever happens to know whom.
- It needs four things, and organisations usually buy the fourth last: supply, demand, matching, and permission for people to move. The permission is the hard one, because managers lose good people from their own teams.
- The regulated version is redeployment. Acas is clear that an employer “must try and move anyone selected for redundancy into other jobs within your organisation instead”, and that such an employee “should not have to apply for the role”.
Most organisations already have an internal talent market. It runs on who drinks coffee with whom, and it works very well for the people who are already visible.
This article explains what a talent marketplace is, the four things it needs, the problem that stops most of them working, how redeployment differs, and how to start without buying anything.
Internal moves are easier when people can see how the organisation is actually shaped. See how New Dynamics org charts keep that current rather than in a slide from last year.
What it is
An internal system for matching people to work inside the same organisation. Four kinds of work usually sit in one:
- Vacancies: permanent internal roles.
- Projects and gigs: defined pieces of work, often a few hours a week for a fixed period.
- Secondments and shadowing: temporary moves to learn a different part of the business.
- Mentoring and coaching: people offering time rather than tasks.
The point is visibility. An opportunity nobody can find gets filled by whoever the manager already knows, which is how organisations end up recruiting externally for skills they already employ.
The four things it needs
- Supply. People whose skills, interests and availability are known well enough to match. That means profiles people maintain because they see a benefit, not because HR chased them.
- Demand. Managers posting real opportunities, including small ones. A marketplace with only permanent vacancies is a job board.
- Matching. A way to connect the two that does not depend on someone reading everything: search, alerts, suggestions, or a person whose job includes making introductions.
- Permission. The rule about whether people may apply, and what a current manager may and may not do about it.
What actually blocks it
- Manager hoarding. The commonest failure. If a manager can quietly discourage a move, the marketplace becomes a place where people browse and nothing happens.
- No release rules. Without a stated notice period for internal moves (and who arbitrates a disagreement) every move becomes a negotiation with the loudest party winning.
- Empty profiles. People update profiles when something came of it last time, and not before.
- No small opportunities. Projects and short assignments are what make a marketplace active between vacancies.
- Perceived risk. If applying internally is seen as disloyalty, only people who are already leaving will use it.
The first two are policy decisions, not product features, which is why buying software first rarely helps.
Fairness, and what the rules expect
Internal opportunities are still recruitment. Acas's guidance on advertising a job notes that a recruitment policy might set "who you must advertise to – for example, internal or external applicants", and that if you have such a policy "you must apply it in the same way to everyone". It also advises advertising "in at least 2 different ways or places" and warns that you "must not ask for or exclude anyone with a certain protected characteristic".
For a marketplace, that means three practical things: publish every opportunity where everyone can see it, apply the same selection standard internally as externally, and do not let "we already know someone" replace a process. Our talent acquisition post covers the external side of the same discipline.
Candidate data is also still candidate data. The ICO's draft guidance on recruitment and selection (the consultation has closed and the final version is to follow) is aimed at employers and recruiters and covers candidates and prospective candidates, which includes your own employees when they apply.
Redeployment is different
The highest-stakes version of internal mobility is redundancy redeployment, and it is legally defined rather than optional. Acas's guidance on offering alternative employment states that an employer "must try and move anyone selected for redundancy into other jobs within your organisation instead", which "is called offering 'suitable alternative employment'".
Its detail matters:
- Employers "must identify any available jobs in your organisation and talk to the affected employees to see if they agree they're suitable", and "if a role is suitable, you should offer it instead of redundancy".
- The employee "should not have to apply for the role", which is the opposite of how a marketplace normally works.
- Where several employees want the same role, employers "must offer the role to any employees on maternity leave, shared parental leave or adoption leave first" and follow a fair process for the rest, "for example holding interviews for the role".
- An offer must be "put in writing", made "before their current contract ends", be "a different role to the one they're currently doing", and "start within 4 weeks of their current role ending".
A marketplace can make vacancies visible during a redundancy process. It does not discharge the duty, and treating "they didn't apply" as the end of the matter is exactly the mistake Acas warns about. This is general information rather than legal advice.
Starting without buying anything
- Publish every opportunity in one place, including short projects, for three months.
- Write the release rules first: how long a manager has to release someone, who arbitrates, and that applying is not held against anyone.
- Ask managers for two small pieces of work each that someone from another team could do.
- Review after a quarter: what got posted, what got filled, and who moved.
If that produces traffic and moves, a platform may be worth buying. If it does not, a platform will not fix it.
How to tell whether it is working
- Internal fill rate for roles that could have been filled internally, not for all roles.
- Moves across teams, rather than within the same manager's area.
- Time to fill internally compared with externally.
- Who is moving. If moves are concentrated in one function or one demographic, the marketplace is amplifying the informal network rather than replacing it.
- Retention of people who applied and were unsuccessful, which tells you how the process felt.
Our career pathing post covers the structures that give people somewhere to move towards, and our career development guide covers making that concrete.
Frequently asked questions
What is a talent marketplace?
An internal system that matches people to work within the same organisation: vacancies, projects, short assignments, secondments and mentoring, made visible to everyone rather than filled through personal networks.
What does a talent marketplace need to work?
Four things: profiles that describe people's skills and interests, real demand including small pieces of work, a way of matching the two, and permission, clear rules about whether people may apply and what their current manager may do about it.
Why do talent marketplaces fail?
Usually because managers can block moves informally and there are no release rules, so people browse and nothing happens. Empty profiles, an absence of small opportunities, and a culture where applying internally looks disloyal do the rest.
Is a talent marketplace the same as internal recruitment?
It includes internal recruitment and goes wider, covering project work, secondments and mentoring. Internal vacancies are still recruitment, so the same fairness standards apply: publish the opportunity, apply the policy consistently, and use the same selection standard as externally.
How does redeployment fit in?
Redeployment during redundancy is a legal duty rather than a marketplace feature. Employers must try to move employees selected for redundancy into other jobs, must identify available roles and discuss suitability, and the employee should not have to apply. A marketplace can help make roles visible, but it does not discharge the duty.
Do you need software for a talent marketplace?
Not to start. Publish every opportunity in one place, write the release rules, ask managers for small pieces of work and review after a quarter. Buy a platform when the behaviour exists and the volume justifies it.
Your next step: write the release rules
- Decide how long a manager has to release someone who moves internally.
- Name who arbitrates when a release is refused.
- Publish every opportunity, including short projects, in one place.
- Keep the redundancy redeployment process separate and follow it properly.
For giving people somewhere to move towards, read and download our career development guide. The guide is free to read, and the PDF uses our short download form.
Want an accurate picture of who does what before you start moving people? Book a New Dynamics demo and bring your current structure. You can also email contact@new-dynamics.com.
