The Case for Hiring for Potential: 5 Factors to Consider

When the pressure is on, hiring for potential may feel counterintuitive. Who wants to spend time training someone when they can simply pluck an experienced candidate out of the pool and get them up and running right away?

Unfortunately, we all know that potential candidates with the perfect combination of talent and experience to grow your organization aren’t always out there. Or the right people may not be available at the right time.

Before you embark on a costly and time-consuming hunt for perfection:

  • Consider how you can hire for potential. Regarding talent and recruitment – particularly concerning aptitude and ability – it’s best to look at the big picture.
  • Set aside experience and mastery of skills.
  • Look for what may be instead of what is.

In this article, we’ll build a case for hiring for potential by laying out five factors to consider. In the interest of covering all the bases, we’ll also discuss those situations where you may not want to hire for potential. Finally, we’ll explain how we do things at memoryBlue and invite you to join us (if you’re looking for employment) – or take advantage of our inside sales services, which include permanent staffing solutions.

Hiring for Potential vs. Experience

A 2012 Stanford University and Harvard Business School study found that participants favored candidates with high potential versus those who had already achieved what high-potential candidates wanted to achieve. While the job marketplace has evolved since this study was conducted, the reasons for hiring for potential vs. experience have not budged.

It’s no secret that to hire for potential can be a risky proposition in the same way that drafting a rookie is a risk — you’re investing in an unproven commodity. The trick is to select the right candidate based on factors like values, work ethic, grit, long-term career goals and curiosity.

Hiring for potential

Need a Reason to Hire Someone With Potential? Here are Five

Every recruitment situation is different, and you may be unsure what’s the right choice for your company. If you’re looking for a reason to hire someone with potential, we’ve provided 5 factors to help you decide:

#1 Tight Labor Market

The perfect potential hire might not be available at the right time. That means you should consider shifting your focus to the available candidates, specifically the ones with the potential to learn fast and go far. Dig deeper than what appears on the resume. When a down economy leads to a surplus of candidates competing for jobs, don’t underestimate the impact that enthusiasm and competition can have as employees work to gain experience and make a positive contribution to the team.

#2: Unique Culture

Startups and other unconventional companies should seek to curate an out-of-the-box work culture to match. If your company differs from the standard in some way, it’s best to find potential candidates who will fit in from a personality perspective. From there, you’ll be able to teach and train them in the ways of your business. Less experience means you’ll have an easier time molding these candidates into model employees for your company.

#3: Financial Constraints

Not every company can afford the high salaries of best-in-class talent. This is especially true of young companies or organizations in transition. Instead of longing for an experienced hire who’s out of reach, find the up-and-coming candidates who will thrive in your environment. The right hire is a solid investment for your bottom line.

#4: Time Constraints

While every position deserves a thorough talent investigation, sometimes a position must be filled immediately. This isn’t a bad thing – with a bit of planning, you can alter the goals of your search to target a potential hire who can grow into the position. To do this, focus your interview process on potential, not on the past.

#5: Highly Specialized Job/Role

When you need to fill a very specialized position, finding someone with the exact skills you need may not be possible. But you can hire for aptitude, knowing you can train and mold a great candidate into a stellar employee.

When Hiring for Potential Isn’t Feasible

Of course, there are times when hiring for potential doesn’t make sense. For example, if you’re filling a management position, you aren’t going to hire someone who’s just starting out. However, you can consider candidates with managerial experience in other fields. Good managers can mentor and lead teams in various industries. It’s easier to train a good leader on how your business operates than to make a leader out of someone with no managerial experience.

Time is another hindrance to hiring inexperienced candidates. If there’s no time for training, the stars align and you find the perfect candidate with all the right experience, hire them tout suite. This doesn’t happen very often, however. It will likely take you longer to find the perfect talent at the right time – and you’ll have to pay far more for a highly-qualified candidate.

Other Thoughts on Hiring for Potential vs. Experience

Experience is a wonderful thing, but it does have its drawbacks. Here are a few other considerations on hiring for potential vs. experience:

  • Open to Learning vs. Set in Their Ways: Ideally, new recruits are hungry and motivated to learn. Highly experienced workers sometimes bring old baggage to a new job. For example, if they were used to doing things a certain way at their old position, you may have difficulty changing their behavior.
  • Lasting Loyalty vs. Short Tenure: When you hire for potential, you get workers more likely to be loyal to your company because you took a chance on them. Highly sought-after, experienced workers are more likely to jump from position to position as their prospects improve. Even if you don’t have to train them fully, you’re going to be putting additional resources into hiring their replacement.
  • Fresh Perspective vs. Same Old: When you open up your hiring practices to include a wide range of potential hires, you’ll get an interesting cross-section of qualified candidates. The resulting diversity exposes your company to various experiences, opinions and perspectives, which is a win-win for your business and the new hire.
Get in Touch

We’ve Built Our Business on Hiring for Potential

At memoryBlue, we’re big believers in hiring for potential. We’re always on the lookout for hungry new talent for our memoryBlue Academy, where we teach participants sales development fundamentals and all aspects of a lead generation role. Whatever a person’s professional experience level, our systematic learning approach – which includes repetition and a constant flow of information – yields fast, amazing results. If you’re looking for exceptionally-trained sales talent for your high-tech business, get in touch with us today!

Contact Us Now

Why Choose a Career in High Tech?

If you have the passion and drive, explore a career as an SDR (sales development representative) in the growing tech sales industry.

Chris Corcoran
About Chris Corcoran

Since cofounding memoryBlue in 2002, Chris has helped provide inside sales resources to more than 1,000 high tech companies, and has hired, placed, or evaluated thousands of high tech sales professionals. Chris spearheads memoryBlue recruiting services, and is passionate about developing sales talent that generates results.

Since cofounding memoryBlue in 2002, Chris has helped provide inside sales resources to more than 1,000 high tech companies, and has hired, placed, or evaluated thousands of high tech sales professionals. Chris spearheads memoryBlue recruiting services, and is passionate about developing sales talent that generates results.

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