Recent headlines about recruitment and hiring in higher education lament the staffing crisis, an age of interims, and that hiring challenges are only getting worse. In an era in which opinion articles are titled “You Could Not Pay Me Enough to Be a College President” (Drezner, 2023) and “The College Presidency Is Broken” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2024), institutions may struggle when faced with turnover in executive and senior-level administrative positions. A recent League for Innovation in the Community College article noted, “Top-level leaders in community colleges are not only aging, but also retiring in waves, with an average tenure of five to seven years” (González, 2024, para. 1). Additionally, according to a March 2023 survey, 62 percent of college leaders reported that hiring had become more difficult, with over half citing that filling academic administration roles was a major issue (Zahneis, 2023). Given these environs, community colleges should consider filling key administrative positions by looking inward.

While external hires may seem to hold the greatest potential to invigorate an institution’s climate, hiring internally should not be viewed as a second-best alternative. There is accumulating evidence that, given the right parameters, it is the smarter solution (Benson & Rissing, 2020; Lewis & Smith-Dell, 2024; Schwartz, 2024). Hiring internally, particularly for community colleges, offers several strategic advantages. Carroll Community College, a rural-suburban institution of about 3,300 credit students in Central Maryland, recently filled several senior-level vacancies with internal candidates with positive results.

In 2023, Carroll’s third president shared that he would retire in the coming year. Shortly after he announced his retirement plans, the provost was identified as the principal candidate to serve as the college’s fourth president. In the months that followed, a thorough interview and vetting process was conducted, with a presidential search committee collecting and analyzing feedback from all constituents. Carroll’s board of trustees then confirmed the provost, promoting her to the role of associate president. A six-month period of transition ensued, in which the associate president worked closely with and shadowed the retiring president to gain close familiarity with the position and its myriad responsibilities.

The promotion of the sitting provost opened a vacancy in the chief academic officer role at Carroll Community College. At the same time, the college rolled out an organizational restructure that created an additional position at the vice president level. These vice president positions were also posted and filled internally, as were two additional administrator positions.

Carroll’s board was highly satisfied with the internal pool of candidates and had confidence that they would maintain stability and build upon a solid foundation to enhance areas of opportunity. Faced with filling senior-level administrative positions, some boards deliberately look externally, especially if they want to bring about significant change. That appears to be the current trend with the 16 institutions that comprise the Maryland community college system, in which only two of the current presidents (one of whom is now Carroll’s fourth president) were internal hires. The tendency to search externally implies that excellence and innovation can be achieved only by bringing in someone from the outside. We found that this is not the case at Carroll, and growing evidence surrounding recruitment and retention in other organizations also suggests differently.

Benefits to Internal Hiring

Some of the conditions in which internal hiring works especially well include when there is an internal candidate who possesses the requisite qualifications for the position and is open to advancement, when a vacant position requires extensive knowledge of the organization, or when the organization has a limited budget for hiring (Vulpen, 2024). Internal hiring also protects institutional resources, potentially saving time and expense associated with an external search, and it lessens the culture shock that might occur with an external senior-level hire. Internal hiring offers a pool of candidates who are lower risk than external hires; they are familiar with the institution’s culture, values, and policies, and they tend to possess skill sets that are uniquely suited to the organization. This can translate to less onboarding and transition time. As with the recent presidential hire at Carroll, looking inward to fill a key vacancy may afford extended time for the outgoing employee to mentor the internal hire. While nearly every organizational transition could benefit from expanded mentorship, the six-month presidential transition period at Carroll proved quite beneficial to the entire college. The official day of transition felt natural and routine, with a new president and college community already accustomed to and optimistic about new leadership.

Organizations that invest in their current workforce boost retention. An organizational culture that emphasizes opportunity for internal advancement is often also characterized by high employee morale and loyalty (Shuster, 2023). A recent LinkedIn report relays that in companies with high internal mobility, the average tenure of employees is 5.4 years, almost double the length of tenure in companies with less internal mobility (Lewis & Smith-Dell, 2024). Creating a culture of growth and opportunity can motivate or incentivize employees to build professional capacity in their current position, rather than looking for advancement opportunities elsewhere. This is especially important regarding the retention of high-performing employees, as research suggests that those individuals will commit to an organization long-term if provided with opportunities for internal advancement (Benson & Rissing, 2020). Conversely, when organizations search externally to fill senior-level positions, potential internal candidates who believe they have been working toward that role may feel overlooked and begin to put out feelers for external opportunities. Organizations filling vacancies with external candidates may ultimately face a double whammy: They might lose a high-achieving internal candidate and, eventually, the external hire as well; voluntary turnover rates are higher for external hires in an organization compared to those who advance internally (Schwartz, 2024).

A Culture of Care When Hiring From Within

Despite the benefits of internal hiring, few higher education institutions have robust succession plans. In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education (2024) article, Brian Rosenberg writes that succession planning is rarely embraced by colleges and universities, principally due to higher education’s “tendency to prioritize participation over outcomes” (para. 6). Levels of internal hiring across all professions, which surged to 40 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic, fell to 24 percent by 2023, below the historical average of 30 percent (Crist, 2023).

For those organizations that emphasize a culture of internal advancement, empathetic and transparent interactions with candidates are critical. Processes surrounding professional advancement can elicit strong emotions. When internal candidates are not offered a position for which they applied, there can be hurt feelings, embarrassment, and resentment. It is essential to communicate promptly and clearly with that individual to share the outcome and any other appropriate and relevant details that might help them as a candidate the next time they apply for a position.

It is also important that the college community feels confident about the processes leading to the promotion of an internal candidate. When workers perceive unfair practices related to internal hiring, they may begin to look externally for their next opportunity (Gartner, 2022). Thus, search processes should be carefully managed to avoid favoritism and ensure that internal promotions are based on merit. Following all standard recruitment protocols, including developing thorough job descriptions and using objective scoring mechanisms, are best practices (Schuster, 2023; Gartner, 2022). At Carroll, both the presidential and vice presidential searches included interviews and public presentations with the opportunity for feedback from the entire college community.

Applications and Other Considerations

Internal mobility can be a key strategy for retaining high performers and fostering a committed workforce, provided organizations first invest in all employees’ growth and development. A 2023 survey reported that only 39 percent of employees believed their institutions invested in their development, and just 31 percent saw advancement opportunities (Schwartz, 2024). A well-established internal system of coaching, mentorship, and professional development validates the efforts of all employees, ensuring that internal advancement is not the only mechanism for recognition (Gartner, 2022; McClure, 2022; Hawes & Reynolds, 2022). Carroll adopted a more structured approach to supervisor training several years ago and will soon move toward new practices for employee evaluations based on continuous coaching to emphasize both the potential for growth inherent within a given position and the opportunity for future advancement within the college.

While internal hiring offers numerous benefits, it may not always be the right approach when filling a senior-level vacancy. External hires can bring fresh perspectives and approaches, infusing a college’s culture with innovation and enthusiasm. For some institutions, open positions offer an important opportunity to diversify the employee pool in terms of gender, race, or age. But there is no guarantee that an external search will result in a candidate who is a good fit, which can lead to a second round of searching, sometimes requiring an interim appointment. An institution can lose a great deal of ground during an extended search with an interim in a key role.

Colleges must, therefore, carefully balance the trade-offs of looking within or beyond when searching for senior leaders, taking into consideration the available pool of talent, the need for a new vision and direction, and the impact that bringing in someone from the outside of the organization will have on students, faculty, and staff. As McClure (2022) notes, “higher education needs to create better career pathways and step up as a world leader in harnessing the full potential of its employees. The good news is that colleges have everything they need to make it happen” (para. 23). By embracing internal opportunity, community colleges can not only retain top talent but also leverage their existing workforce to advance institutional goals, committing to a cost-effective and impactful approach to leadership transitions.

References

Benson, A., & Rissing, B. (2020) Strength from within: Internal mobility and the retention of high performers. Organization Science 31(6), 1475-1496.

Crist, C. (2023, September 18). Internal hiring saves money and boosts retention but has fallen in recent years. HR Dive. https://www.hrdive.com/news/internal-hiring-saves-money-boosts-retention/693944

Drezner, D. (2023, December 14). You could not pay me enough to be a college president. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Gartner. (2022, January 27). Gartner recommends organizations confront three internal labor market inequities to retain talent. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/2022-01-26-gartner-recommends-organizations-confront-three-internal-labor-market-inequities-to-retain-talent

González, K. (2024). Training and retaining emerging community college leaders. Leadership Abstracts, 37(6). League for Innovation in the community college. https://www.league.org/node/1430914

Hawes, C., & Reynolds, S. (2022, August 1). Radical retention: How higher education can rise to the challenges of the great resignation and beyond. National Association of Colleges and Employers. https://www.naceweb.org/career-development/best-practices/radical-retention-how-higher-education-can-rise-to-the-challenges-of-the-great-resignation-and-beyond

Lewis, G., & Smith-Dell, J. (2024, May 7). The benefits of building new leaders internally, according to LinkedIn data. LinkedIn Talent Blog. https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/employee-experience/benefits-of-building-leaders-internally

Lu, A. (2024, July 23). The age of interims. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

McClure, K. R. (2022, December 2). Higher ed is a land of dead-end jobs. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Moody, K. (2022, February 4). Workers say they’ll quit rather than navigate unfair internal hiring practices. HR Dive. https://www.hrdive.com/news/workers-say-theyll-quit-rather-than-navigate-unfair-internal-hiring-practi/618326

Rosenberg, B. (2024, October 8). Succession planning matters. Why is higher ed so bad at it? The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Schwartz, N. (2024, July 25). 3 strategies colleges can use to retain employees. Higher Ed Dive. https://www.highereddive.com/news/colleges-retain-workers-nacubo-2024/722322/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue%3A+2024-07-25+Higher+Ed+Dive+%5Bissue%3A64244%5D&utm_term=Higher+Ed+Dive

Shuster, L. (2023, February 23). Why Internal Recruitment can be a smart strategy for 2023. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2023/02/22/why-internal-recruitment-can-be-a-smart-strategy-for-2023

Spawn, L. (2023, March 22). Why employers should recruit internally. Business.com. https://www.business.com/articles/why-employers-should-promote-from-within

The Chronicle of Higher Education. (2022). The staffing crisis in higher ed: College administrators’ views on campus employment. https://connect.chronicle.com/rs/931-EKA-218/images/RoadAhead_Huron_ResearchBrief.pdf

The Chronicle of Higher Education. (2024, October 8). The college presidency is broken. Here’s how to fix it.

Vulpen, E. van. (2024, January 9). Internal vs. external recruitment: Benefits, costs & best practices. AIHR. https://www.aihr.com/blog/internal-vs-external-recruitment/#:~:text=A%20study%20from%20the%20Wharton,be%20fired%20than%20internal%20hires

Zahneis, M. (2023, March 31). Higher ed’s hiring challenges are getting worse. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Dr. Michelle Kloss is Vice President, Effectiveness, Integrity, and Accountability, and Dr. Rosalie Mince is President of Carroll Community College in Westminster, Maryland.

Opinions expressed in Leadership Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.