When you set out in search of a new hire for an open position, you’ll need to make one key decision first: Should you promote or relocate an employee who already works for the company? Or should you cast your net outside the company walls and do your best to attract a highly qualified person who may also be a stranger to your business and its culture? Here are a few reasons why the second option—seeking an external candidate—may be your best bet.

You’ll have plenty of diverse points of access.

Seeking an internal candidate will mostly involve reaching out to qualified workers directly, making an internal announcement, or asking managers to recommend qualified members of their teams. But if you turn your attention outward, you’ll a long list of avenues you can use to reach willing and capable candidates, for example, job fairs, online ads, independent agencies, college employment offices, and even radio and TV commercials. The options are limited only by what you can afford and what method seems best suited to your business model.

Your candidates will all view the company with fresh eyes.

There’s certainly an advantage to taking on a new hire who knows the company inside and out. But a complete stranger will come in the door with no prior knowledge, and therefore no long-term baggage, overfamiliarity with company quirks and flaws, existing relationships within the organization which may be problematic, burnout, distrust, or skepticism. New hires from the outside are usually eager to establish their relationships on the right foot, and they also bring a sense of fresh air and previous exposure to operations and innovations that existing hires haven’t seen.

External hires allow you to break negative hiring patterns.

There may be something incorrect, unconsciously biased, self-defeating, or even just imperfect, about the way the company and its managers hire and promote. Seeking only internal candidates can perpetuate these problems and harden them into the system. Going outside of the company can break these negative patterns, even if they haven’t been clearly identified.

External hiring keeps great people in the right jobs.

Pulling or promoting excellent workers out of their roles isn’t always the best way to run a business. When a promotion is used as a reward for great work, the promoted employee tends to walk away from a role in which they excelled, and into a role that is entirely new, unfamiliar, and possibly not even a great fit for their skills and experience. Ironically, it’s sometimes best to reward great performers by leaving them right where they are and offering them a different incentive, such as higher pay or better working conditions. But to do this, you’ll need to staff open positions with newcomers.

For more on how to find the right people for your team—inside or outside of the organization—contact the staffing experts at PSU.