Dive Brief:
- Companies that have more resources and experienced staff are more likely to “build” talent internally, while companies that are younger tend to hire from the outside, or “buy” talent, according to a study publicized Feb. 3 by the University of South Florida.
- The research highlights how talent strategy may be shaped by both a company’s internal capacity as well as the volatility of its environment, Amit Chauradia, an assistant professor of instruction at the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business, said in a press release announcing the findings.
- “For executives and HR leaders, this study highlights that talent decisions are strategic levers, not simple administrative choices,” Chauradia said. “A firm’s decision to build or buy talent directly shapes its future competitiveness.”
Dive Insight:
The research, co-authored with researchers from the University of Cincinnati and the Institute of Management Technology Hyderabad, used data from 174 large U.S. law firms, studied over an eight-year period.
In general, firms that had more senior-level leaders available to coach junior workers were more likely to use the “build” strategy, while younger firms with more “unpredictable workloads” were more likely to hire experienced employees externally, the study noted.
Finding people with the right skills for open jobs is a major sticking point of the 2026 job market, various surveys and reports indicate. Hiring intentions are up, according to Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll survey results from in December, but a third of hiring decision-makers surveyed said they had jobs they couldn’t fill partially due to a lack of skills.
Additionally, hiring intentions may be focused primarily on specific roles that support growth in 2026 while other jobs are cut, a Resume.org report indicated.
This scramble for skills may be, in part, a “self-inflicted” problem for the HR profession, a recent Isolved report said, due to a lack of agility — thus limiting not only external hires but also internal development goals.
