With the market for top talent becoming increasingly competitive, Jill Chapman* suggests organisations look hard at the potential of lesser qualified candidates.
While the concept of a skills gap has been criticised, for many hiring managers the talent shortage is very real.
These individuals are facing some tough questions. How will their organisations be affected by long-term vacant positions?
Can they offer more in compensation and benefits? Should they hire a less experienced new employee who has potential?
In this post, I am taking a closer look at the latter — hiring for potential rather than experience.
Here’s my guide to beating the skills gap by hiring for potential.
Ignore things that you once thought mattered.
To hire good employees when it seems like they don’t exist, you have to change your expectations.
However, which expectations you let go of, and which ones you keep, is an important distinction.
Judging candidates based on their education, for example, may be an easy way to qualify them.
However, experience has shown the recruiting industry that exceptional employees can come from anywhere — not just the ‘best’ schools or universities.
According to Google’s Head of People Operations, Laszlo Bock the company has found that grades predict performance for the first two years of a career, but do not matter after that.
Other things that may not matter can include years of general experience, industry experience and already knowing how to do the job.
Consider the fact that having eight years of experience may just be one year of experience repeated eight times.
Candidates who have worked in other industries often bring fresh insights into their work.
Learn to identify high potential.
If you’re not going to hire a top-tier university graduate with a relevant degree or X years of experience in a similar role, then who do you hire?
According to many recruiters, there are actually a few things that matter a whole lot more than already knowing how to do the job.
Look for candidates who fit your organisation’s culture; are conscientious; show signs of being a good problem-solver; are humble and willing to admit when they’re wrong.
People with these qualities are more likely to be coachable and engaged employees who you can train to do the job you need them to do.
When you look at resumes, read between the lines to look for these traits.
When you meet candidates in person, ask behavioural and situational interview questions. Here are few examples.
Tell me about how you’ve worked effectively under pressure.
How do you handle a challenge? Give an example.
Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?
Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
Describe a decision you made that wasn’t popular and how you handled implementing it.
Give an example of how you worked on team.
Build a path to success.
Without a helpful training and development framework at your organisation, high potential won’t flourish.
So to truly beat the skills gap, you may have to devote more time to developing talent in the first several months of employment.
For example, with every job description you could require a new hire to complete a corresponding list of skills-based courses to prepare for the job.
For a managerial role, you could require new hires to complete courses on leadership, time management and strategic planning.
Also, some companies have developed focused training programs that offer new graduates access to an entry-level track to a successful career with the company.
If you have an area with a constant need for talent, a more formalised school-to-work or fast-track program may be worth implementing.
*Jill Chapman is a senior performance consultant responsible for delivering learning.
This article first appeared on the Insperity Recruiting Services website.
