This story is a guest contribution from Employ, powering recruiting with purpose-built, scalable solutions through its JazzHR, Lever, and Jobvite offerings.
Employees today crave meaningful growth, but too often, career development paths involve climbing outdated career ladders. These inflexible pathways can lead to disengagement, stagnation, and higher turnover. As the workplace continues to evolve, creating a “people-first” approach to career development for employees has become an absolute must-have.
Below, we’ll explore why skill matching matters and share four practical ways to build a people-centric culture for career development—one that boosts retention, engagement, and overall performance.
Why Skill Matching Matters in Career Development for Employees
When we match employees to opportunities based on their skills and potential, companies create inclusive workplaces where people thrive, stay engaged, and grow within the company instead of looking elsewhere.
When learning and career development are woven into the employee experience, job satisfaction and overall well-being improve—reducing the risk of burnout and turnover.
4 Practical Ways to Embrace Skill-Based Career Growth
1. Make Career Development for Employees Part of Everyday Work
To create a workplace where talent thrives, HR leaders must take an active role in weaving career development into daily work, without disrupting productivity. Here are two examples:
- Microlearning and on-the-job projects: Traditional training programs can be time-consuming and costly, but bite-sized, on-demand learning allows employees to build skills in real time, apply them, and retain the knowledge more effectively. Whether it’s a short video on leadership coaching, a quick data analysis challenge, or a cross-functional project that exposes employees to new areas, these microlearning moments help close skill gaps faster and keep employees engaged.
- Mentorship programs: While traditional one-on-one mentoring is valuable, small peer mentorship groups take it a step further by creating dynamic learning environments where employees can share insights and build cross-functional relationships. Mentorship shouldn’t be limited to senior employees coaching junior staff either. When employees at all levels share knowledge and experiences in structured groups, it can break down silos, accelerate learning, and create a culture where growth happens organically.
2. Make Internal Mobility a Business Priority
Internal mobility is directly linked to better employee retention rates, and isn’t just about promotions—it’s about reskilling, lateral moves, and creating a workplace where employees see a future for themselves. Here’s how to make internal recruitment a key driver of retention:
- Proactively reskill and upskill: By investing in reskilling and upskilling now, companies can prepare employees for evolving roles. This means providing targeted learning opportunities, integrating reskilling into daily work, and making it easy for employees to gain hands-on experience. A culture of continuous learning doesn’t just future-proof your workforce—it builds confidence, engagement, and long-term loyalty.
- Create clear career pathways: Transparency is key—employees should know exactly what skills and experiences they need to move into new roles or advance in their careers. Providing structured career frameworks, internal job boards, and manager-led development conversations ensures that employees feel supported in their growth.
3. Use AI to Match Skills with Opportunities
Too often, companies overlook good talent that’s right under their nose. AI-powered tools can analyze employees’ skills, experiences, and career goals to match them with open roles. The result helps businesses fill roles faster while keeping employees engaged and growing within the company. This includes:
- AI-driven skill matching: AI can quickly identify internal candidates with the right skills for open jobs, reducing hiring time and increasing retention. Employees can also see personalized career recommendations, making it easier to navigate their growth. AI solutions help HR teams surface internal talent faster, ensuring the right people are in the right roles at the right time.
- Personalized learning and development: Learning and career development for employees should be directly tied to business needs and career growth. AI makes this easy by matching employees with the right courses, programs, and projects based on their goals, so they’re always building skills that matter. The result? Engaged employees, stronger retention, and a workforce ready for what’s next.
4. Embrace hybrid and flexible work in career growth
In a world where hybrid and remote work are the norm, employees need equal access to opportunities, whether they’re in the office, at home, or working across time zones. Here’s how you can ensure career mobility is accessible to everyone, not just those physically in the office:
- Make career growth location-inclusive: Growth should be based on skills and contributions, not proximity to leadership. This means standardizing promotion criteria, ensuring internal job postings and mentorship programs are visible and accessible to everyone, and proactively connecting remote and in-office employees.
- Use technology to strengthen connection and visibility: Without clear visibility, remote employees risk being overlooked. Regular career check-ins, virtual networking, and internal talent marketplaces help ensure employees stay engaged—no matter where they work. By using technology to track skills, promote internal talent, and facilitate career mobility, companies ensure that flexible work doesn’t mean limited growth.
Employee Growth Means Business Growth
Helping employees grow isn’t just good for them—it’s good for business—and the companies that invest in internal career development for employees today will be the ones that thrive tomorrow.
