Here’s a spoiler alert: there is no such thing as the perfect candidate. Every job seeker has their own personality quirks and perks. And often, when you hire based solely on a specific skill or attribute, you can miss the bigger picture of whether the new hire will be a good fit for your company. What’s the solution? Hire for potential. Here are the pros and cons of hiring for potential.
No Bad Habits
There is one very particular benefit when you’re hiring based on potential. Your new employee won’t have any bad habits. Your company has specific processes and procedures, and a more experienced candidate has done this job for someone else. That might mean they don’t match your style or culture. With an entry-level candidate who has potential, you can teach them to do it your way.
Additional Training
However, that leads to one potential drawback with hiring for potential. If your new employee doesn’t have much experience, you will need to spend more time on their training. But that isn’t all bad. Studies show that employees with good training and onboarding experience tend to be more satisfied and engaged with their job.
Fresh Perspective
A new employee will be able to bring their perspective to the table. They may not have specific skills in your industry, but they have real-life experience as a consumer. They can give their thoughts on the work your doing and provide a fresh new perspective that can help you develop even better processes and procedures for the future.
Employee Morale
There might be a concern with your current team if you bring in an inexperienced employee that you’ll need to keep in mind. If your current team believes that they will need to pick up the slack because the newest team member doesn’t have the right experience, it could create a stressful environment. Instead, get their buy-in for training. Engage your current employees as mentors rather than ask them to pick up the slack.
If you’re still looking to hire, get in touch with our team at TVC today!
