posted 5th August 2025
Some of the strongest candidates for your company’s next role may already be part of your team - and upskilling them could be the key to long-term business success.
In 2025, upskilling - the process of training and developing existing employees to take on new roles or responsibilities - is continuing to gain recognition for its strong hiring strategy. Alongside being time and cost efficient, upskilling also helps to build long-term loyalty and strengthen internal capabilities.
In this article, we explore upskilling as a hiring strategy, how employers can identify potential within the workplace, key steps to implement effective development pathways from within a business, and how to use skills-gap analysis to build internal pipelines. We will also explore the recruiter’s role in identifying clear growth opportunities, advising on succession planning, and how NuStaff can help you build an internal talent pipeline to enhance your business’s success.
Why Internal Development Is Gaining Momentum
Across various sectors, we are seeing rapid changes to industries and digital transformation - with the demand for adaptable and skilled workers only increasing. At the same time, external recruitment is becoming more time-consuming and expensive, which means we are seeing businesses prompted to reconsider their hiring strategies.
What’s driving this shift:
- A focus on workforce resilience: Post-pandemic, businesses are investing in agility and adaptability
- The rise of lifelong learning: Employees increasingly value employers who invest in their development, which makes training opportunities a strong retention tool.
- The skills shortage: With specialist roles hard to fill, internal training helps businesses overcome talent gaps
- Evolving job roles: With AI reshaping tasks across industries, internal employees often need upskilling rather than be replaced with new talent.
Rather than starting from scratch with each role, businesses can build and enhance from within. Employers can do this by identifying potential talent within the company early on and investing in their employees’ valuable talent.
Identifying Hidden Potential Within Your Team
The key to upskilling within your company is to start by recognising who in your team is ready for further growth. You may often find that the most valuable future leaders are dependable, willing to learn, and demonstrate initiative in their daily tasks.
What to look for in upskilling candidates:
- A desire to learn
- Reliability and self-motivation
- Curiosity beyond their current role
- Skills in problem-solving and resilience
- Positive feedback from peers and managers
How to identify internal talent:
- Conduct regular 1:1 reviews or appraisals
- Observe training and mentoring engagement
- Encourage self-nomination through internal job boards
- Use performance data to identify consistent internal achievers
- Identify employees who are actively supported in their ambitions
- Ask heads of departments to point out team members showing growth potential
Building Clear Development Pathways for Growth
Once you’ve identified growth potential amongst your current employees, the next step is to be proactive by implementing structured development pathways. Whether it’s an employee’s progression into a new role, or increasing their current responsibilities, it’s important to be transparent and supportive in your approach.
How to build internal development pathways:
- Training programmes: This can be through workshops, online courses, and on-the-job training catered to a person’s skills or career goals
- Mentoring schemes: Designed for employees to build their confidence and to transfer their knowledge from other departments into their current role
- Role progression maps: Set out clearly what’s needed to progress from one level to the next such as skills and responsibilities
- Appraisal-linked development plans: Make sure the employee’s personal goals align with the needs of the business, with regular check-ins to monitor progress
When you follow these steps, employees will feel supported in their journey to growth, which will enhance their performance and retention significantly.
Conducting a Skills-Gap Analysis to Build Talent Pipelines
Conducting a skills-gap analysis helps to accurately pinpoint your business’s needs and forms a crucial foundation for upskilling strategies. This helps employers proactively develop employees within the right areas.
What a skills-gap analysis involves:
- Reviewing current knowledge and skills in the workplace
- Examining roles against the business’s future needs
- Identifying skill areas that need improvement
- Comparing internal capacity with external benchmarks
- Gathering feedback from managers and team leaders
Benefits of skills-gap analysis:
- Creates cost-effective development plans
- Aligns HR and recruitment with wider business strategy
- Prioritises training budgets to ensure they have the most impact
- Time efficiency when filling future roles through advanced preparation
The Recruiter’s Role in Internal Development and Succession Planning
At NuStaff, we know that recruitment supports business growth from within as well as through external hiring. We help employers identify gaps, advise on internal talent pipelines, and structure development plans to align with their future business growth.
How recruiters support internal hiring strategies:
- Support workforce planning
- Assess team structure and long-term talent needs
- Provide training or learning provider recommendations
- Guide managers to identify and nurture employees with high potential
Boosting Morale, Retention and Employer Reputation
Beyond filling vacancies, internal development within a business has various benefits. Upskilling boosts employee engagement by:
- Increasing morale: Employees will feel valued for their skills and talents
- Strengthening loyalty: Staff are less likely to leave when there are clear growth opportunities
- Attracting talent: Developing internal talent will enhance the company’s brand
- Supporting inclusion: Creating fairer growth opportunities for employees from diverse backgrounds
- Improving culture: This will encourage team collaboration and confidence when it comes to internal development
In today’s workplace, retention is driven by purpose and progression – with upskilling seen as a long-term recruitment strategy.
By enhancing the talent you already have within your company, you can:
- Build succession plans
- Reduce time and hiring costs
- Create loyalty and motivation within the workplace
- Strengthen your company’s reputation as a great place to grow a career
Let NuStaff Help You Build an Internal Talent Pipeline
Whether you're looking to implement upskilling training programmes, identify internal talent, or restructure your company's hiring strategy, NuStaff is here to help.
Our experienced team works with employers to combine recruitment with workforce development to turn potential into reality. With our help and expertise, we can guide your company to enhance internal performance and turn vacancies into growth opportunities.
Contact NuStaff for Expert Advice
📞 Call us: 03442 645 456
📧 Email: info@nustaff.com
🌐 Visit: www.nustaff.com
