Bank of America Filled 14,000 Roles Internally in 2025 by Treating Mobility as Infrastructure
The News
Bank of America filled approximately 14,000 of its job openings — roughly 44% — with existing employees in 2025, according to an HR Brew interview with Josh Bronstein, the bank's head of global talent, published July 15. The bank, which employs over 200,000 people and made 18,000 external hires in the same year, attributes the internal mobility rate to sustained investment in infrastructure: a skills taxonomy, dedicated internal mobility advisors who provide confidential career coaching and résumé support, and clear expectations that managers develop talent rather than retain it. Bronstein described the approach as 'disciplined individual people management, disciplined workforce planning, and disciplined external hiring' working as a system. The bank reported 86% engagement and 8% turnover in 2025. He cautioned against enthusiasm for AI point solutions, noting that 'sustainable transformation is less about the technology itself — it requires organizational vitality, leadership capability, skills infrastructure, and strong risk management and operating controls.'
Why It Matters
A 44% internal fill rate is not a metric most TA functions can match, and the reason is not budget — it is infrastructure. Bronstein's description of mobility as a system rather than a programme is the key distinction. Most organisations treat internal mobility as a portal or a policy; Bank of America treats it as infrastructure with dedicated advisors, a skills taxonomy, and manager accountability built into performance expectations. His warning about AI point solutions is also worth heeding: the market is flooded with bolt-on tools that promise mobility insights but fail because the underlying skills data is absent or unreliable. If your skills taxonomy does not exist or is not maintained, no AI tool will compensate.
Taking Action
All action is situated in your corporate context. These are starting points, not prescriptions — choose what fits.
Connect
Who to talk with in your enterprise
Your head of talent management: Ask what your current internal mobility rate is as a percentage of total openings, and whether you have dedicated resources — not just a platform — supporting internal moves. A portal without advisors is a job board with extra steps.
Your HR operations lead: Discuss whether your managers are evaluated on talent development and internal mobility outcomes, or whether they are implicitly incentivised to retain talent. The line 'managers developing talent rather than holding onto it' is a cultural choice that requires structural reinforcement.
Inspect
What to take a closer look at
Check your internal job posting system. How many open roles are visible to existing employees, and what is the average time between a role being posted externally and being made visible internally? If external candidates see opportunities before your own workforce does, your mobility infrastructure has a leak at the top of the funnel.
Reflect
What to think about more deeply
Internal mobility rates of 40%-plus are held up as best practice, but is there a point where filling too many roles internally becomes a sign that your external hiring is failing to bring in fresh capability rather than a sign that your internal pipeline is strong?