When I asked him what employers should be doing more of to secure and retain the best talent, he told me that particularly for long-term permanent recruitment at least, "You should always recruit for potential rather than for immediate delivery".
This got me thinking a bit because generally speaking it's fair to say that, at least in my experience, a lot of recruitment is done on skill sets, adopting the competency-based interviewing mantra that 'past experience is the best predictor of future success'.
Challenging the 'status quo'
In other words, we play it safe, we're looking for someone that ticks all the boxes in our job spec, effectively an identikit of the previous incumbent. As my esteemed interviewee put it, "Employers are often looking for a replacement for the guy that just left. That's a mistake. They left for a reason and if you hire someone like him or her, they will leave too."
This same notion is discussed by Korn Ferry CEO, Gary Burnison*. Referring to Eli Broad, the American philanthropist and entrepreneur, Burnison says, "The ideal team for him is composed of bright, capable individuals who are willing to challenge his thinking with their own ideas." No 'yes' people for Broad - tell me how we can improve things please.
The ongoing question of skill shortages and the perennial problems faced by organisations in finding the right talent for their roles formed the second part of the interview. Here, many factors come into play such as demographics, labour market flexiblity and of course the role of government and education providers in ensuring that our youth have the skills needed to drive economic growth.
"Organisations need to wake up to the fact large
cohort of people late middle age who have got a lot to offer and are not
beyond retraining or moving into other roles. And who are probably easier to manage than Gen Y," was the other important point which my recruitment expert was keen to highlight.
I'd be very interested in your thoughts on the subject of hiring for potential.
Thanks for reading.
*Gary Burnison (CEO of Korn Ferry International), 'No Fear of Failure - Real Stories of How Leaders Deal with Risk and Change'
