Private equity's biggest hires show how firms like KKR and Blackstone are placing their bets for 2020. Here are this year's 10 must-know moves.

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• Private equity firms like KKR, Blackstone, and The Carlyle Group's key hires this year that show how they plan to invest in 2020.
• Business Insider spoke with PE recruiters and dug up hire announcements to track the biggest people-moves who those working in the industry should know about.
• The additions illustrated investment in growth equity, impact investing and overseas offices throughout Asia.

Private equity firms typically do most of their hiring at the associate level, often preferring to cultivate talent from within rather than through external hires.

Sometimes, though, they sign on people at the senior level in areas of strategic importance.

These instances, though few and far in between, offer a peek at key shifts in PE firms' investment strategies, which can get lost in the day-to-day news shuffle.

Business Insider took a look back at the year, spoke with executive recruiters and dug up hire announcements, to see how private equity firms have been padding their rosters as we head into 2020.

Some firms like Warburg Pincus, Silver Lake and Apollo Global Management were not so active on the outside hiring front, instead announcing internal management shifts that promoted existing execs.

KKR, Blackstone and The Carlyle Group, meanwhile, made key hires in areas including growth equity, impact investing, and overseas offices throughout Asia.

Put in one place, these moves offer a cheat sheet for private equity observers to see what areas firms are prioritizing as they evolve into giant asset managers and sprout new business lines.

Here are the highlights for 2019.