Should you build talent internally, or bring in someone new with a fresh perspective?
If you’ve ever sat in a meeting weighing the choice between promoting someone who knows the culture and bringing in an outside spark, you’re in good company.
For growing organizations, this question comes up constantly.
Leaders want to scale quickly. Teams want room to grow. Budget matters—and HR is often right in the middle, balancing business needs with people-first decisions.
In this episode of the People Proud Podcast, Grow from within or hire externally? How to scale with intent, we tackle one of the most defining talent questions modern organizations face:
When should you grow from within—and when does it make sense to look outside?
To explore how leaders can make these decisions with intention (not urgency), we sat down for a conversation with:
- Cara Hunter, principal consultant at livingHR, Inc.
- Tali Sachs, senior content marketing manager at HiBob
- Dr. Ken Matos, director of market intelligence at HiBob
Together, we unpacked what’s reshaping talent strategy today and why the strongest organizations don’t default to either internal growth or external hiring, but treat every open role as a strategic choice.
From skills mapping and career lattices to honest “not yet” conversations and the future of entry-level work, this conversation centered around one core idea: Scaling well starts with being intentional about how (and why) you grow your people.
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Why the best talent strategies aren’t either/or
“Don’t just fill seats. Really be intentional about how you’re moving people around or when you bring someone in from the outside,” Cara says, because the best organizations don’t treat hiring like a reflex. They treat it like a strategy.
For Cara, every hiring decision starts with a simple shift in mindset toward treating roles as long-term investments. Ask what the role needs to deliver right now—and what the business will need from it a year from now.
Sometimes the talent is already in-house, ready with the right support. Other times, the organization truly needs fresh thinking or a capability that doesn’t exist internally yet.
The point isn’t defaulting to internal or external hiring. Rather, it’s intentionally choosing which path to take, based on what the role (and the organization) actually need.
Internal mobility is a culture advantage
One of the biggest challenges of growing talent from within is maintaining momentum.
Cara emphasized that internal development creates what she described as “stickiness” in organizations. “People stay longer, particularly if you have very clear career paths, so people can see where they’re going.”
When people can see a clear path forward and understand how to move along it, they’re more engaged and more likely to stay.
Internal mobility protects all the institutional knowledge you’ve built up and strengthens culture, reinforcing something people care deeply about: There’s a future for me here.
Having a sense of the future matters. It signals trust, investment, and belief—three things people look for when deciding whether to grow with an organization or look elsewhere.
Skills mapping: Finding the talent you already have
Here’s a surprising truth: Many organizations aren’t facing a talent shortage.
They’re facing a talent visibility problem.
Cara pointed out that in many cases, organizations already have what they need. “A lot of times they already have the talent,” she said. “They just have the talent in the wrong spot.”
That’s why she recommends starting with skills mapping to help organizations understand what capabilities exist today, what they’ll need next, and where the gaps actually lie.
The gap often comes down to a lack of alignment.
When organizations have visibility into their skills, internal movement becomes possible in unexpected ways. People may have underused strengths or interests the organization hasn’t recognized yet.
Career lattices: Why growth isn’t only up the ladder
The traditional career ladder isn’t the only way anymore.
As Cara noted, people don’t always want a straight climb upward or need one to keep growing.
“They might want to go across and learn new things,” she said, and sometimes lateral movement is what makes future leadership possible.
A career lattice recognizes that growth can happen through breadth, not just elevation. People can build new skills, expand their perspective, and gain experience that prepares them for larger roles over time.
Moves like these aren’t detours or cop-outs. They’re often what make long-term growth (and future leadership) possible.
Handling “not yet” conversations with internal candidates
Of course, internal mobility comes with tough moments.
What happens when someone applies for a role they’re excited about … but they’re not quite ready?
Cara’s perspective is refreshingly direct: It’s better to be honest than to set someone up for a role they’re not yet prepared to fill.
“The harder conversation,” she said, “is when you put someone into a role that they’re not equipped to do, and they don’t have the support to do it, and then they fail.”
Instead, the goal is clarity and support:
- Here’s what you’re doing well
- Here’s what this role requires
- And here’s how we can help you get there
That support might include training, certification, or mentorship paired with time and a clear path forward.
The case for planning talent needs ahead
Organizations can’t always close these readiness gaps quickly.
Cara emphasized that development takes time and that timing matters.
“This could be a year or two,” she explained. “You need some runway if you’re planning far enough ahead to get your employees where they need to go.”
When organizations plan early, people can build towards what’s coming instead of guessing at what’s next.
That clarity changes the conversation into one where growth becomes something people can prepare for rather than hope for.
Compensation, pay transparency, and lateral moves
Internal mobility only works when it feels like an opportunity.
This means ensuring people understand what a move means for them financially, especially as pay transparency becomes the norm.
Cara noted that transparency gives clarity. “People know if I move into this job,” she said, “this is my earnings potential.”
Clear pay ranges and open conversations reduce uncertainty and help build trust. They also help lateral moves feel empowering rather than risky, so career growth feels real and tangible.
Entry-level work in a changing world
The episode also tackles the bigger question of what happens if entry-level work disappears?
Automation, AI, and globalization are reshaping early-career roles. This shift may reduce the number of traditional entry-level positions. Eliminating them entirely, though, creates a long-term gap in leadership development.
Cara argued that AI should elevate early-career talent, rather than erase it entirely. “AI and globalization should be an amplifier, not a replacement for all entry talent.”
When organizations use automation to take repetitive tasks off people’s plates, they empower early-career professionals to move into higher-value work sooner, with a stronger focus on strategic thinking, creativity, and problem solving.
Creating intentional entry points helps organizations sustain the pipeline they depend on to develop future leaders.
When hiring externally is the right move
Building teams well isn’t about choosing internal mobility or external hiring over the other. Rather, it’s about choosing the right path for the role and business need.
In some cases, the skills already exist within the organization and can grow with the right support. In others, organizations need capabilities that simply don’t exist in-house yet, especially when entering new markets, launching new products, or building expertise in emerging areas.
Cara was clear that external hiring plays an important role when the business needs new momentum or specialized expertise.
“When you need that disruptor or you need a very specific skill set, you may not have that person or team internally that can do it on their own,” she said.
Ultimately, building the strongest teams comes down to making intentional choices. Mature talent strategies create space for leaders to assess what a role truly requires—whether internal mobility or external hiring—and choose the path that best serves the business and the people behind it.
Takeaways: How to scale with intention
- Every open role is a strategic decision. Leaders should treat each vacancy as a chance to reassess skills, culture alignment, and the long-term needs of the business—not simply backfill a seat.
- Map today’s skills to tomorrow’s needs. Most companies already have people with the right capabilities; skill mapping helps uncover internal talent and unlock internal mobility opportunities across teams.
- AI should amplify—not replace—entry-level talent. Automation can handle repetitive tasks so early-career employees build strategic skills, creative problem-solving, and leadership readiness faster.
- Career lattices expand growth beyond promotions. Visual, transparent pathways help people understand how to grow across the business, which fuels retention, engagement, and culture strength.
- Transparent compensation builds trust. Clear pay ranges and mobility paths empower employees to make informed career decisions—especially across global teams with varying pay laws.
- Honest conversations drive long-term success. Open dialogue about readiness, skill gaps, and opportunities helps people grow into roles with confidence, instead of being placed before they’re prepared.
- Use data to influence executives. Retention costs, time-to-fill insights, and mobility data help HR leaders make a compelling business case for people-first, cost-efficient growth strategies.
- Plan talent moves years ahead. Strategic workforce planning—supported by internal mobility, clear learning pathways, and intentional hiring—keeps companies resilient amidst AI disruption and globalization.
