{"id":11474,"date":"2022-09-28T10:42:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T10:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scouttalent.com\/?p=11474"},"modified":"2026-06-19T17:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T17:14:26","slug":"could-hiring-for-potential-help-overcome-talent-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scouttalent.com\/ca\/blog\/could-hiring-for-potential-help-overcome-talent-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Hiring for Potential Help Overcome the Talent Shortage?"},"content":{"rendered":"
We are experiencing a tight labor market. Very few people are unemployed, and businesses throughout the world are trying to find any talent they can from the increasingly limited number of job seekers currently available.<\/p>\n
In order to fill their existing roles,\u00a0 many organizations are being forced to look outside the box \u2013 to rethink how they find talent in order to fulfill their needs and drive growth. One of the ways that organizations can do this \u2013 particularly during periods of higher unemployment \u2013 is to re-evaluate what they\u2019re looking for in a potential recruit.<\/p>\n
Experience, skills, and potential: evaluating applicants<\/h3>\n
Typically, when filling an open position, hiring managers will look for three things:<\/p>\n
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Experience \u2013 This typically includes how long someone has worked in the field, whether or not they have worked with specific software or systems, where they were educated and how long they spent in their role(s).<\/li>\n
Skills \u2013 This includes the person\u2019s specific abilities and technical skills, outside of their experience level. For example, whether or not someone knows how to program in javascript, has undergone leadership training, or is really good at socializing with people.<\/li>\n
Potential \u2013 This is the slightly more subjective side of hiring, where a person is evaluated not on who they are now, but on who they can be. Some of this may be based on their data, but hiring managers also look for intangibles like intelligence, likeability,\u00a0cultural fit, and energy when hiring for potential.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In the past, applicants tended to be evaluated in that specific order: experience, then skills, then potential. While all three have a place in the hiring process, it may be time to reconsider this method of evaluation.<\/p>\n
Weaknesses of experience<\/h3>\n
\u201cExperience\u201d has long been the metric of choice for talent acquisition. It remains valuable for evaluation even today. After all, if you\u2019re hiring for an open position \u2013 for example, an IT job \u2013 and someone has 5 years of experience working in that exact same job, then at least some of that experience will be transferable to your new position and speed up the time it takes to be productive in the role.<\/p>\n
But experience also has its drawbacks. These include:<\/p>\n
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Not all of a person\u2019s experience is going to be transferable, as each employer and job has different needs, different tasks, and different systems.<\/li>\n
The number of years of experience desired is often arbitrary and might turn away prospective applicants. Is 5 years measurably better than 4? What about 3? What about only 1? Sometimes, seeking experience in a field can be limiting.<\/li>\n
Some people with experience are also more rigid in their beliefs and habits. Experience can sometimes harden people in ways that make them less trainable.<\/li>\n
Experience can also create unrealistic expectations that the person may not be able to meet. Because each workplace is different and because not all skills are transferable, a person with a lot of experience may still need a lot of training. Not having clear and measurable expectations for your new starter can negatively impact their confidence and sap up valuable time from your current team.<\/li>\n
Experience can be a function of luck and privilege, not necessarily ability. We\u2019ll have more on that in a moment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
None of this is to say that experience is \u201cbad,\u201d but it also doesn\u2019t tell the whole story, and may not necessarily indicate that someone is the right fit for a role.<\/p>\n
Skills \u2013 useful to have, but also can be taught<\/h3>\n
The skills an applicant has provides even more insight into their ability. After all, if you need someone that knows Salesforce, and the person says they know Salesforce, that should give them an advantage over someone that does not. Skills are also a useful recruitment metric. But skills, like experience, can also be misleading:<\/p>\n
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Many skills can be taught.<\/strong> Most applications, programs, and structures are meant to be user-friendly and do not require a level of advanced technical knowledge only attainable with extensive education. Even if a person does not\u00a0have<\/i>\u00a0a skill, the learning curve may not be high.<\/li>\n
Knowing a person has skills doesn\u2019t tell you what they can achieve with those skills.<\/strong>\u00a0The candidate can \u201cknow\u201d how to use Microsoft Access but that does not give you any indication of whether they can complete the right level of tasks you require.<\/li>\n
Similarly, skills are not always transferable.<\/strong> Programs, like the Salesforce example above, can be used in many different contexts. The candidate\u2019s experience with it at one employer may not transfer to your organization. In some cases, it can even be detrimental.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Once again, this is not to deny that a candidate\u2019s skills are without value. Rather, it\u2019s important to be aware that seeking some skills may cause you to overlook others.<\/p>\n
Hiring for potential unlocks the candidate market<\/h3>\n
Skills and experience both remain useful for finding great talent. But what many employers stand to realize is that hiring for potential can be as important, if not more so, than their past work.<\/p>\n
Almost any time you hire someone, you\u2019re going to need to train them. It doesn\u2019t matter how much experience or what skills they have, a strong onboarding process, consistent training, and a growth mindset are key to all successful hires. All of this requires the person to have potential. They need to show that they have the ability to not only learn their job but to be a cultural fit that grows with the organization.<\/p>\n