Internal vs External Chief of Staff role

Job seeker dilemma: do you go for the internal Chief of Staff position or do you apply to an external role? Here are the pros for each.

Pros for internal Chief of Staff path

• You already know the industry

• You already know the company

• You can leverage existing relationships

• You know your future boss

• You demonstrate progression

• You have a better chance of getting hired vs external candidates
  

Pros for external Chief of Staff path

• You can switch industry

• You can find a new exciting company

• You can build more senior relationships

• You build better experiences

• You can increase your salary

• You can get better work-life balance

• You can join a vibrant culture

Remember, you can always do both! The sequence looks like this: Your current role ⇒ internal Chief of Staff ⇒ external Chief of Staff at another company. This route can make you very attractive to the external market because you are demonstrating promotion from within and now you have the coveted Chief of Staff title.

To learn more about the Chief of Staff role, download our Chief of Staff Playbook here.