Reskilling vs Hiring: When Should Employers Train Existing Staff?

When a business identifies a skills gap, recruiting someone new is only one option. In some cases, the right potential may already exist within your workforce and simply need further development.

Deciding between reskilling employees and hiring new talent depends on the skills required, how quickly they are needed and whether existing employees have the foundations to make the transition successfully.

What Is the Difference Between Reskilling and Hiring?

Reskilling means training an existing employee to develop new capabilities, often so they can move into a different role or take on new responsibilities. Hiring involves recruiting someone who already has some or all of the experience required.

For example, a software developer could be reskilled in machine learning to support new AI projects. Alternatively, the business could recruit an experienced Machine Learning Engineer who can contribute sooner.

Both approaches can work. Employers need to consider their timescales, available talent, budget and long-term workforce plans before deciding which route to take.

Why Is Reskilling Becoming More Important?

Technology is changing the skills businesses need, particularly across AI, data, cybersecurity and cloud computing.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 found that 39% of workers’ existing skill sets are expected to be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030. It also found that 85% of employers expect to prioritise upskilling their workforce.

For employers, continually recruiting externally for every emerging skill can be expensive and difficult, particularly when those skills are already in high demand.

Reskilling gives businesses another way to respond to changing requirements while retaining employees who already understand their customers, systems and ways of working.

When Should Employers Reskill Existing Staff?

There are several situations where training an existing employee may be more effective than making an external hire.

1. The Employee Already Has Transferable Skills

Reskilling works particularly well when there is a clear connection between an employee’s existing expertise and the new skills required.

A data analyst learning more advanced data engineering techniques is a more realistic transition than moving someone with no technical background directly into a highly specialised engineering position.

Look at the underlying capabilities required for the role rather than focusing exclusively on job titles.

An employee may already have much of the knowledge needed and only require training in a particular platform, programming language or process.

2. You Have Time to Develop the Skills

Training takes time.

If you know that your business will need additional AI, cloud or data expertise in 12 months, you have an opportunity to start developing those skills internally.

If a major project begins next month and nobody currently has the expertise to deliver it, hiring an experienced professional may be more appropriate.

Work backwards from when the skill needs to be fully operational and consider whether there is enough time for someone to learn, practise and apply their new knowledge.

3. Company Knowledge Is Particularly Valuable

Some positions rely heavily on understanding internal systems, customers or processes.

An existing employee may take months to develop a new technical skill but already have years of company knowledge that would take an external hire time to acquire.

This can make internal development particularly valuable for roles that combine technical expertise with detailed organisational knowledge.

4. Employees Are Looking for Progression

Career development can influence retention.

Employees who can see opportunities to learn, develop and move internally may have more reasons to build a longer-term career with the organisation.

Before recruiting externally, consider whether the vacancy could provide a progression opportunity for someone already within the business.

This does not mean automatically giving the role to an existing employee. They still need the right potential and transferable skills, but internal candidates should form part of the conversation.

When Is Hiring a Better Option?

Reskilling should not become the automatic response to every skills shortage. There are circumstances where external recruitment is likely to be faster or more effective.

You Need Specialist Knowledge Quickly

Some skills take years to develop.

If you need a senior cybersecurity professional, AI specialist or experienced technology leader, a short training programme is unlikely to provide the level of expertise required.

Hiring someone who has already solved similar problems can give the business access to knowledge that would be difficult to develop internally within the required timeframe.

There Is No Suitable Internal Talent

Successful reskilling depends on having employees with the right foundations, aptitude and interest.

Moving someone internally simply because they are available can create another skills gap elsewhere in the business without properly solving the original problem.

Speak to employees about their career ambitions and assess their transferable skills before deciding whether internal development is realistic.

You Need External Experience

External hiring can introduce perspectives from different organisations, industries and working environments.

This can be particularly valuable when a company is entering a new market, adopting unfamiliar technology or changing how a function operates.

An experienced external hire may bring processes, knowledge and lessons that your existing team has not encountered before.

The Role Is Business-Critical

Consider the consequences of someone learning while doing the job.

A junior employee developing into a new position may have room to build their expertise gradually. Someone responsible for cybersecurity, regulatory compliance or a major technology programme may need proven experience from their first day.

The level of risk associated with the position should form part of the decision.

Reskilling vs Hiring: How Do the Two Compare?

Employers should consider these factors together rather than making the decision based solely on salary or recruitment costs.

What Is the Difference Between Reskilling and Upskilling?

Upskilling and reskilling are often used interchangeably, but they describe slightly different approaches.

Upskilling develops someone’s existing capabilities so they can perform their current role at a higher level. Reskilling prepares them to perform substantially different work or move into another position.

For example, training a Marketing Manager to use new AI tools within their existing role would generally be considered upskilling.

Training that Marketing Manager to move into a Data Analyst position would be reskilling.

Both approaches can help employers prepare their workforce for changing skills requirements.

Can Employers Combine Reskilling and Hiring?

For many businesses, the most practical workforce strategy will include both.

Consider a company introducing AI across its operations. Recruiting an experienced Head of AI could provide the specialist leadership needed to establish the strategy. Existing software developers and data professionals could then receive training to develop additional AI capabilities internally.

The experienced hire introduces knowledge that the organisation does not currently have, while training helps build a broader internal skills base.

This approach can also reduce the pressure to recruit an entirely new team in a competitive talent market.

Questions to Ask Before Deciding Whether to Train or Hire

Before opening a vacancy, consider:

1. What specific skill is currently missing?
2. Do we already employ someone with relevant transferable skills?
3. How long would it realistically take to train them?
4. When do we need the skill?
5. How specialist is the expertise required?
6. What are the risks if the employee is still developing their skills six months into the role?
7. Could an external hire bring knowledge we do not currently have?
8. Would reskilling create a useful career progression opportunity?
9. Would moving an existing employee create another gap elsewhere?
10. Could a combination of hiring and training work better?

These questions can help businesses make a more considered decision instead of automatically choosing recruitment or training.

Building the Skills Your Business Needs

Skills gaps do not always need to result in a new vacancy.

When employees have relevant transferable abilities and there is enough time to develop them, reskilling can strengthen the existing workforce while creating progression opportunities.

External hiring becomes more important when expertise is highly specialised, required quickly or does not currently exist within the organisation.

For employers planning future teams, it can be useful to identify which capabilities can realistically be developed internally and where experienced external talent will have the greatest impact. This creates a clearer workforce plan and helps focus recruitment and training budgets on the areas where they are most valuable.