Potential pays in modern hiring

Are you struggling to find candidates with the experience and skills you’re searching for? If so, it may be time to rethink your approach to hiring.

Finding the right fit for your organisation is more challenging than ever. The employment landscape refuses to stand still; ongoing skills shortages, economic uncertainty, and evolved workplace expectations all paint a complex picture when sourcing talent. A candidate’s experience may seem the most important consideration, but fierce competition and rapidly evolving ways of working are calling for more strategic hiring approaches: one of which is hiring for potential, rather than existing skillsets.

In today's candidate-driven market, instead of offering ever-higher salaries to attract in-demand talent, why not consider investing in less experienced individuals who have a strong attitude for learning and growth?

At a glance:

• 93% of employers faced skills shortages over the past year
• 77% of employers would be willing to hire someone without all the necessary skills, intending to upskill them
• Hiring for potential can be a cost-effective, future-fit solution to your skills gaps
• You may be able to broaden your candidate pool if you opt against rigid, experience-based requirements, instead unlocking diverse talent

Future-proof your workforce

It’s no secret that the current job market is incredibly competitive; the overwhelming majority (93%) of employers faced skills shortages over the past 12 months, according to our 2025 Salary and Recruiting Trends Guide. In response, over three-quarters (77%) of employers said they would be willing to hire someone without all the necessary skills, intending to upskill them.

Organisations are recognising the need to hire more broadly, looking past certain CV shortcomings and hard-skill requirements to secure professionals with other desirable attributes: from adaptability to a willingness to learn. Moreover, soft skills such as these will only become more valuable as artificial intelligence (AI) shapes the future of work, and more niche skills fluctuate in relevance.

Proven experience can be a comforting safety net, but it doesn’t guarantee that a person will be suitable for a role – either today or in the future. Industry tenure and educational attainment may look impressive on paper, but won’t always align with the specific needs of your organisation, or even the current market you find yourself in. With experience usually demanding higher wages, ignoring potential could be a costly mistake. Instead, hiring for potential can be a cost-effective, future-fit solution to your skills gaps – reach out to our Skills and Learning team to find out how we can support you with this hiring approach.

Cultivate a diverse workforce

While there’s already a strong business case for assessing a candidate’s potential, the cultural impact could be equally important. Increasingly, employees are looking for organisations that demonstrate a diverse and inclusive culture, with fair recruitment practices playing no small part in this. Our latest salary guide revealed that over three-quarters (79%) of professionals say a diverse and inclusive organisational culture is important to them when considering a new role.

While diverse hiring is a multi-faceted effort, giving greater consideration to potential will naturally broaden your candidate pool, potentially unlocking undiscovered talent pools and attracting new voices to your organisation.

How do you hire for potential?

Hiring for potential could be a smart long-term investment, but what does it look like in practice? Here are a few points to consider:

• Don’t be overly prescriptive in your job adverts – an endless ream of requirements, coupled with jargonistic language, could deter promising applicants from wider backgrounds. Understand the role you’re hiring for and what’s truly needed, vs what can be learned on-the-job.
• Trained assessors can deploy behavioural exercises and aptitude testing when identifying high-potential professionals. This might focus on ‘core’ skills (sometimes known as ‘soft’ skills), with our surveyed employers highlighting the need for communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to adopt change, flexibility and adaptability, and problem-solving.
• Use technology to fine-tune the selection process – online assessment tools can help identify talented individuals that may not have typical backgrounds or experience. Advances in AI will allow organisations to augment their recruitment and analyse huge volumes of applicants, but beware of bias creeping into hiring algorithms.
• Have the right training mechanisms to support less-experienced staff. Employees already have an appetite for self-improvement; embedding a learning culture – and empowering your people with the knowledge they need to stay relevant – will only enhance retention and attract more talent.

If you’re looking to develop a sustainable and diverse pipeline of talent, we’ll work with you to develop your very own skills academy; a way for you to nurture the exact talent your organisation requires from the ground up.

Keen to future-proof your workforce by hiring for potential? Take our Tech Skills MOT assessment for expert insights and tailored recommendations to ensure your team is ready for the challenges ahead.