The Ultimate Retention Tool: How Kuehne+Nagel Created an Internal Mobility Machine

In an era where talent acquisition has become increasingly challenging, Kuehne+Nagel has discovered that sometimes the best talent isn't found externally — it's already within your organization. Claudia Harms, Head Operations Excellence Talent Attraction & Acquisition at Kuehne+Nagel shared how the global logistics giant transformed their approach to internal mobility, creating a system that not only retains top talent but helps them thrive.

Watch the entire session here, or read on for the highlights!

The Catalyst for Change: A New Reality in Talent Management

"The war for talent is over — talent has won,” Harms declared as she kicked off her presentation. "It's now a candidate's market, so it's time to get serious about internal mobility. It's so hard to find great talent, and it's even harder to keep them. Why keep feeding the talent acquisition machine over and over again when we can retain and develop our people?"

For Kuehne+Nagel, a company with 80,000 employees across more than 100 countries, this meant rethinking their entire approach to talent management. Having already created a successful career site for external candidates, they turned their attention inward and discovered several critical challenges that many organizations face:

• Hidden internal job postings buried deep within their intranet

• Lack of transparency in career opportunities

• Low application rates from internal candidates

• Employees relying solely on personal networks for career advancement

• Frustrated employees unable to visualize their career paths within the organization

"Own Your Career": Turning Philosophy into Practice

"Why should our employees not have the same, if not even better, experience than our external candidates?" Harms questioned. "When we started rethinking our approach to candidates, we realized we needed to do the same for our employees. That's when we knew it was time to implement an internal career site that could truly transform the employee experience."

This powerful inquiry led to the creation of their "Own Your Career" initiative, centered around three key pillars:

1. Career Explorer: An Internal Talent Marketplace

The company rolled out “Career Explorer”, an internal Talent Marketplace that puts employees in the driver's seat of their professional development. Unlike their previous system, Career Explorer offers:

• Comprehensive profile management

• Skill tracking and development

• Career preference settings

• Transparent job opportunities

• Easy application processes

"We truly believe that every employee should be in the driver's seat and have ownership of running their own career," Harms emphasized. "This has been our guiding principle from day one."

2. Internal Headhunting: Transforming Recruiters' Roles

Creating Career Explorer was one piece of the puzzle — but the fundamental disconnect in communication between employees, recruiters, and hiring managers required both a process and a mindset change. They had to fundamentally rethink their approach to talent acquisition and retention through internal sourcing.

Kuehne+Nagel reimagined their recruiters as internal headhunters. This transformation involved:

• Leveraging their Talent CRM to track and campaign to internal talent

• Creating personalized outreach strategies

• Maximizing employee referrals 

"Why should we wait until somebody externally is headhunting our employees?" Harms asked. "Just imagine receiving a phone call from your recruiter internally saying, 'Hey, I might have this job for you, would you be interested?' Even if they might not be interested in the end, that one call can boost engagement and keep an employee with us for another six months or more."

The company didn't stop at direct outreach. They leveraged their CRM to run targeted internal campaigns, promoting relevant opportunities to different employee groups. "Why leave out our employees when we send campaigns to candidates?" Harms explained. "We can send logistics jobs to our logistics people, HR jobs to our HR people. When someone joins Kuehne+Nagel, they're automatically introduced to our Career Explorer platform. It creates that push effect because our employees are busy with their daily work—you need to give them that gentle push to explore opportunities."

Kuehne+Nagel also strengthened its internal mobility framework by building in a quick and easy referral process that incentivized employees to refer candidates internally. “People who might not have really looked for a job or went to the platform, they went because they thought ‘I know somebody who might be a fit for this position,’” noted Harms. “They already had their first foot in the door. From there, they continued to explore further and further.”

With the help of Phenom Referrals, over 1,000 referred employees joined Kuehne+Nagel — more than 1 out of every 80 employees. Referred candidates were more likely to fill internal roles and had a conversion rate 10 times higher than external candidates.

3. Content-Driven Career Development

"We really thought about what the different personas of our employees might need," Harms explained. "From an employee who just joined Kuehne+Nagel, to someone who's happy in their current role, to someone eager to make their next career step — we wanted to provide all the information they need right at their fingertips."

The company developed a sophisticated content strategy based on eight different employee personas, each representing different career stages and aspirations. This included:

• Customized content for new hires

• Resources for career development

• Success stories from internal moves

• Networking opportunities and tools

• Career advice and guidance

• Development tips and best practices

Telling the stories of successful employee journeys created a supportive environment and helped reinforce a culture based on learning and internal forward mobility.

Measuring the Success of an Internal Mobility Machine

The Own Your Career initiative was a resounding success with impressive results. Using Career Explorer as the hub, the combination of internal sourcing, content development, and the introduction of the referral program made a significant impact on their employee retention and engagement:

• Internal hires increased by 10% annually

• Employee attrition decreased by 10%

• Time-to-hire for internal candidates reduced by 22%

• Internal candidate conversion rates reached up to 35% (compared to just 1% for external candidates)

"When you look at our conversion rates for internal candidates—up to 35%—compared to the typical 1% for external candidates, it's pretty amazing," Harms noted. "Though I'm already thinking there's even more room for improvement. Why not 50%? Why shouldn't one out of two internal candidates who apply be hired?"

The Future of Internal Mobility

"Technology is just there to enable all of this, but we keep coming back to the human touch," Harms reflected. "Experience is about human connection. For us, it's about shifting toward those moments that matter — having meaningful conversations with employees, building trust, and creating relationships. That's what creates moments that matter for our employees."

Kuehne+Nagel isn't stopping here. Their future plans include:

• Increased transparency in job posting processes

• Mandatory internal job posting periods

• Continued evolution of their employer value proposition

• Greater emphasis on authentic storytelling and relationship-building

Key Takeaways for Organizations

Looking at Kuehne+Nagel's successful internal mobility transformation, several clear lessons emerge that other organizations can apply to their own talent strategies:

1. Start somewhere — you don't need perfect systems to begin improving internal mobility

2. Focus on creating meaningful experiences for employees

3. Transform your recruitment team into internal talent advisors

4. Invest in content that guides and supports career development

5. Make internal mobility a cornerstone of your retention strategy

"Just start somewhere," Harms concluded. "You don't need to have everything perfectly automated. Getting started with the basics is already more than enough to create a meaningful experience for your employees."

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