Hiring new employees and promoting others within an organization is important no matter what level they are at, but extra consideration should be given when deciding on how to fill a leadership role. Having strong leaders is crucial in every industry, including car dealerships, because leaders get things done. They give their all and motivate other employees to do the same, and their organizations can either succeed or fail depending on their performance.
Choosing a leader, therefore, is difficult, and one of the most important considerations when filling a leadership role is whether or not to promote within an organization or hire from the outside. There are pros and cons to each, so one choice is not necessarily better than the other. This makes it hard, but if the existing management team trusts themselves and each other, the right choice will be made.
So why promote from within? Of course, a critical aspect of this option is that the individual already knows the business. This includes the people, and the coworkers we interact with every single day truly impact our individual experiences and the work environment as a whole. Someone who has been within a dealership for a while has usually built rapport with other employees and can also recommend the best person to fill the spot he or she is leaving to advance upwards. 
It’s also important to note that the leaders hired will also be assisting in choosing future leaders, so management wants to be able to trust them. Trusting someone who has worked for a dealership for many years is usually easier than trusting an “outsider.”
Hiring from the outside, however, also has its strong points. Despite the fact that “outsiders” have to learn the business, meet everyone, and potentially “steal” a leadership position that a current employee may have wanted and felt qualified for, they bring new things to the team and can help a dealership improve its business model. Shifts in industries call for new skills and experience, and auto dealerships are no exception.
Employees who have been around for a long time may rely on past procedures and have “tunnel vision” when it comes to business practices. This is not necessarily a bad thing if it works, but sometimes it’s a good idea to bring in someone new who has other perspectives on how to run the dealership even better.
Hiring someone brand new also eliminates any “drama” or tension between the existing employee who got promoted and those who didn’t. The transition from a lower level to a leader can be awkward for everyone involved, and that can cause internal problems that no dealership wants.
Overall, when a leadership position opens up, a dealership must decide what it needs to keep succeeding. That could mean promoting a salesperson who has been with the dealership for 12 years and has an excellent track record and reputation, or it might be hiring an individual from the accounting department of another dealership who has extensive experience with newer, more efficient software. The current culture within a dealership will influence the decision a lot, and whether or not things need to be “shaken up” at that time is management’s decision.
Hiring from the outside might take longer and seem riskier than promoting internally, but it could be worth the wait.
