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4/25/17, 10 : 22 AM Weighing Internal vs. External Hires
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Weighing Internal vs.
External Hires
When hiring, it’s not always clear whether you should cast a wide net or go with who you know.
By Eric Krell | Jan 7, 2015
When hiring, is it better to build from within or “buy” from the external job market?
The question is undoubtedly important, but it may not be the most critical one in determining if a person in
a new position thrives or flames out.
“‘Do we build it or do we buy it?’ is a useless debate in the 21st century because you have to do both,” says
Harvard Business School professor Boris Groysberg. His book Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the
Portability of Performance () (Princeton University Press, 2010)
contains comprehensive research on external vs. internal hiring. “It’s not whether you build or buy, it’s
figuring out under what conditions you build or buy,” he maintains.
Daniel Sonsino would agree. He is vice president of talent management at Polycom, a San Jose, Calif.-
based voice and video communications company that has about 3,500 global employees. Three years
ago, Polycom filled roughly 75 percent of its open positions via external hires. That figure has decreased to
about 40 percent since Sonsino began to get his recruiters to “think inside first” when filling positions.
Internal hires retain organizational knowledge and get up to speed in their new roles more quickly than
external hires. “Hiring internally also increases engagement. And folks tend to refer others more frequently
when their own career has grown within the organization,” Sonsino says. “We’ve seen that pretty
consistently.”
Despite those advantages and despite the disadvantages of external hiring, such as higher costs and a
longer ramp-up period, Polycom remains firmly committed to a build-and-buy approach.
The key to determining whether it is best to build or buy occurs long before a hire is made: The first step
involves taking a diligent approach to workforce and succession planning.

4/25/17, 10 : 22 AM Weighing Internal vs. External Hires
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And what occurs after the hiring decision—during onboarding, or the “integration” process—is equally
important.
Many companies “throw a ton of e ff ort into finding the right person, negotiating and getting to the finish
line,” explains Greig Schneider, U.S. managing partner of global executive search company Egon Zehnder
(). “That’s not the finish line. That’s the starting line.”
Pros and Cons
oger Ahlfeld has a fresh—and personal—appreciation for the pros and cons of hiring external
candidates. Ahlfeld, vice president of human resources for Tedeschi Food Shops in Rockland,
Mass., joined the company with roughly 2,400 corporate and franchise employees a little more than a year