Fresh Talent or Familiar Faces? Getting Your Hiring Mix Right.
When you're faced with a hiring decision, it can be tempting to jump straight into candidate sourcing, update a job spec, fire it out to your usual platforms, and hope the right person appears. But as we have seen with our previous content, 'The Strategic Playbook for Workforce Planning, Role Design & Culture Fit', great recruitment doesn't begin with advertising; it begins with clarity and planning.
One of the most critical and often overlooked decisions you'll need to make early on is whether someone within your business should fill the role or whether it requires an external search. It's not simply a choice between promoting or posting. It's a strategic decision that affects culture, capability, and future leadership planning.
This blog will help you weigh the pros and cons of fifilling roles internally vs. hiring from outside the company, not just in theory but in a way that aligns with your business goals, values, and long-term talent strategy.
filling roles internally vs. hiring from outside the company,
Why This Choice Really Matters
Many businesses approach recruitment reactively. Someone leaves, and you find a replacement. The team grows, and you add a new person. But the most successful companies treat hiring as a key business lever, a tool that helps them not only fill roles but shape culture, drive change, and future-proof their teams.
Before diving into job descriptions or interviews, it's essential to step back and ask, "Is this an opportunity to promote from within, or is it time to bring in fresh thinking?"
Making the right call here can save time, reduce risk, and ensure your new hire integrates quickly and adds long-term value. But making the wrong call? That can lead to mismatches, stalled development, or costly turnover. So, Let's examine both options in detail.
Promoting from Within: Internal Recruitment
Promoting from within is often the go-to strategy for businesses that value loyalty, culture continuity, and speed. When done well, it can be incredibly effective, but it's not without its blind spots.
The benefits:
Internal candidates already have a deep understanding of your company, culture, systems, and goals.
Promoting internally boosts morale and shows staff there's room to grow; this increases retention.
It can be faster and more cost-efficient, as it often reduces external recruitment costs and the time required for onboarding.
The risks:
You may be reinforcing the status quo rather than inviting new perspectives.
Over promotion can lead to internal skill gaps or underdeveloped managers.
If the internal candidate isn't quite ready, the transition can affect performance and credibility.
Sometimes, when it involves promotion to management and overseeing existing work colleagues, it can be challenging for both parties to establish the new management and working role.
This approach works best when:
You've nurtured strong talent pipelines that employees recognise.
You're looking for stability and continuity.
The role relies heavily on internal relationships or company-specific knowledge.
But it's not always the right call.
Hiring from the Outside: External Recruitment
External hiring brings in new ideas, broader experience, and specialist skills. It's the strategy that sparks innovation, particularly when entering a new market, undergoing a transformation, or shifting company culture.
The benefits:
Injects fresh thinking.
Opens access to skill sets or leadership qualities your team may not yet possess.
Helps redefine roles, creates new benchmarks, or bring in experience from other sectors.
The challenges:
It maybe slower due to the time required for sourcing, onboarding, and cultural alignment.
External candidates may lack internal context and need time to build relationships.
There's a higher risk of cultural mismatch if values aren't aligned.
This approach works best when:
You're lacking critical skills internally.
You want to challenge current norms or reshape the team.
Internal candidates aren't ready, or the role requires external credibility.
So, Which Is Right for You?
There's no universal answer here. But there is a strategic one based on what the role demands, what your business needs, and what future you're building.
Start by asking yourself:
What are we really trying to achieve with this hire?
Do we have someone internally who can step up and succeed?
Will this hire help us evolve or simply maintain the status quo?
How will this choice affect team dynamics, morale, and succession planning?
Exhaust One Before Moving to The Next
If you have potential within the company a well-planned approach to hiring starts with exploring one route thoroughly before moving on to the next. If you’ve put in the groundwork with proper planning, workforce analysis, and clear role criteria, it makes sense to begin by looking internally.
Give your existing team a genuine opportunity to step up. Be clear about expectations, communicate openly about the process, and assess internal candidates against the real needs of the role — not just their tenure or likability. This signals to your team that internal development and progression are part of your business DNA. It can also surface hidden potential, stretch capabilities, and even reveal new options you hadn’t considered.
If, after careful consideration, there’s no internal fit, either due to skills, readiness, or cultural alignment, then it’s time to move confidently into an external search. By exhausting your internal route first, you make a more informed, intentional hiring decision while reinforcing trust and transparency within your team.
Using a Specialist Recruitment Partner for External Hires
When you shift into external hiring, it’s often valuable to engage a trusted recruitment agency, not just to fill a role, but to challenge your assumptions and expand your reach. A good recruiter won’t just send CVs. They'll act as a strategic partner, helping you refine the brief, benchmark salaries, sharpen your employer proposition, and access candidates you wouldn't reach through traditional channels.
Using a recruitment partner can be a great benefit, especially when hiring for specialist roles, hard-to-fill vacancies, or leadership positions. Agencies bring market insight, networks, and rigour to the process, saving you time and increasing the likelihood of a great long-term fit. If you've done the internal due diligence, this next stage should feel purposeful, not panicked. It’s a great way to help you carry hiring momentum forward to the next step with focus and purpose.
Building a Balanced Talent Strategy
Over time, the strongest organisations develop a blended recruitment strategy, one that values internal development while recognising when an external injection of talent is needed.
Here's what we often advise our clients at Prestige:
Plan, Plan, Plan - do not leave recruitment to the last minute; we have a comprehensive guide on this for you (Strategic Playbook for Workforce Planning, Role Design & Culture Fit)
Constantly invest in succession planning, so internal readiness is a real option.
Use data - to measure potential, not just performance.
Look for transferable soft skills - do not pigeonhole internal or external candidates by focusing solely on qualifications.
Don't fear external hiring - but be sure your onboarding and culture fit processes are strong.
Communicate clearly - especially with internal teams, when external hires are brought in, or if an employee from that team is promoted to a senior or high-visibility role.
Remember, recruitment isn't just about finding talent, it's about shaping the future of your business with the right person.
In Summary: Make Your Hiring Decisions with Purpose
The decision between internal recruitment and external hiring isn’t just about logistics, it’s how your business values growth, trust, strategic thinking and cultural fit.
Promoting from within can be a powerful signal. It shows your team that hard work is recognised, and it builds continuity, loyalty, and morale. But it only works when the individual is truly ready, with the right mindset, capability, and cultural influence to thrive in a new position.
External hiring, on the other hand, can bring fresh energy, critical skills, and challenge the status quo, but it comes with a steeper integration curve and a greater need for careful onboarding. That’s why the decision isn’t binary, it’s sequenced. Done properly, you explore one path fully and respectfully, then move to the next with confidence and clarity. And when you do step out into the wider market, working with a specialist recruitment partner can ensure you stay strategic, informed, and well-positioned, not just to fill the role, but to hire with purpose and longevity.
Take the time to ask not just, “Who can fill this position?” but “What kind of person will help our business grow, evolve, and succeed long-term?” The right hire isn’t just someone who fits the job, it’s someone who fits the journey.
