Hire for Potential, Not Experience

As External Hiring Becomes an Imperative, Broaden Your Perspective So Potential Takes Precedence Over Experience  

by James O'Malley

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is your firm good at attracting and hiring experienced talent?
• Do you ever find that the experienced talent you hire is sub-par in terms of skills, knowledge and/or other measures of success?
• Are you successful in integrating and keeping experienced talent?
• Has poaching become your go-to recruitment strategy?

If you answered one or more of the above questions affirmatively, there is perhaps some comfort in knowing that you are not alone. In my twenty-plus years of experience in recruiting within (and on behalf of) professional services firms, I have rarely encountered any that consistently excel at hiring and retaining capable, high caliber experienced talent.