The Secret to Solving the Skills Shortage – Hiring for Potential
This session looked at how hiring for potential, rather than for existing skills and experience, can help employers deal with a shortage of skilled candidates. James Marsh of HRreview hosted, with Jayson Darby, Director of Science at Thomas International, and Jos Frederiks, co-founder of Createment.
Jayson Darby, Director of Science, Thomas International; Jos Frederiks, Co-founder, Createment. Hosted by James Marsh, HRreview.
Key takeaways
Hire for the ability to learn, not only for today's skills
Darby argued that jobs keep changing, so a candidate with every skill on day one is getting harder to find and is not enough anyway. Potential means something specific: how fast someone learns, how well they adapt to change, how they build relationships and whether they can pick up new skills.
Past experience is a weaker predictor than aptitude, personality and structured interviews
Darby summarised two well-known research reviews, one from the 1990s and one from the mid-2000s. Both found that cognitive aptitude, personality and behavioural traits, and structured interviews predict job performance better than previous experience. Darby added that well-designed assessments score fairly across protected groups, so they can make hiring both more objective and more inclusive.
Dropping the skills requirement can turn a thin pipeline into a full one
Frederiks described an IT traineeship for the Dutch airline Transavia, which had been getting almost no applicants for some vacancies. Createment advertised only through social media and asked for no IT background. 584 people applied over three months, 42 passed testing and Transavia hired 16.
Test learning ability and adaptability together, then interview for fit
Createment tests for analytical skills, adaptability, learning ability and problem solving, and Frederiks rated adaptability and learning ability as the most important. Darby explained why they work as a pair: a fast learner who struggles with uncertainty may not cope with a new industry. The shortlisted candidates were then interviewed for culture fit and fit with the role profile, and the hires included a former dolphin trainer, a classical ballet dancer and a refugee from Syria whose qualifications had counted for little in the Dutch job market.
Hiring for potential only works if you can train people
Both speakers said a hire like this needs a learning environment. Frederiks would not recommend it to a team too stretched to teach newcomers, but thought the learning period is shorter than many expect, especially in agile teams. Darby argued that recruitment and L&D need to plan together, and that assessing candidates early in the process stops strong but unconventional candidates being dropped.
Use the same lens for internal promotion and succession
Darby said the traits that get people into leadership roles are not always the ones that make them good at it. Before recruiting externally, look for people already in the business who could step up. Darby gave the example of a colleague who moved from customer support through product and sales operations to running a large part of customer success globally.
The Transavia case study tells the stories of the three career changers in more detail, and the Q&A covers neurodiverse candidates, senior hires and whether small, stretched teams can make this approach work.
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