Hire for potential. Hire for motivation. Hire for attitude. Hire for skill.

Why hiring for X years of experience doesn’t give you the best hire

A long time ago I got my first job as a recruiter working for Network Rail. One of my most favourite jobs hiring apprentices for the Advanced Engineering Apprenticeship Programme. They got to choose a discipline across Track, Electrification and Plant as well as Signalling. Now we sifted on their qualifications amongst other things. They were also assessed at an assessment centre across a number of things such as group exercise etc. before being invited to interview at the local team depot who were sponsoring them… now I will get to the point I promise..

At this stage we looked at motivations, attitude, what do they have about them and what will make them turn into the best learner…

If they were successful they got the fabulous chance to learn onsite in Gosport at the engineering facility. It was an amazing experience for learners to bond, grow and develop. So much opportunity to develop personally and professionally.

What always sticks with me is the Programme Director saying they can be the brightest of the bright but if they don’t apply themselves, if they aren’t motivated then there is no point in hiring them or them being here. This was proved true over the years and we improved and adapted the recruitment process to fit this profile

This is true for any role at any level.

Hire for potential. Hire for motivation. Hire for attitude. Hire for skill.

Don’t hire candidate A that has 5 years of experience compared to candidate B with 2 years of experience, just because of more years of experience. Focus on potential and give someone that chance. More importantly hire the person that meets your brief in the first place.