Hondy&Co Talent Advisory

Why the best hiring decisions look beyond experience and focus on future contribution.

What if we stopped hiring history and started hiring trajectories?

A great CV opens the door. But is it enough to make the right hire?

A CV tells us what someone has achieved in a particular environment, with a specific team, culture, budget and leadership style. It provides valuable evidence of experience and skills, but it cannot guarantee what that person will achieve in a different context.

Building a resilient organisation requires looking beyond past achievements. It means understanding not only what candidates can do today, but also how they learn, adapt and contribute to the future of the business.

The goal is not to overlook experience. It is to understand what experience tells us and what it does not.

1. The CV Trap: Searching for the Perfect Match

Experience matters. For many positions, technical knowledge, relevant qualifications and proven expertise are essential. However, problems arise when the ideal candidate is defined as someone who has already performed exactly the same role, in a similar company, for several years.

This approach can lead to two common mistakes.

• Overlooking transferable potential. Candidates who have developed relevant skills in a different environment may be dismissed simply because their career path does not match the job description perfectly. Yet, their adaptability, learning ability and broader perspective may be valuable assets.
• Confusing past success with future performance. Someone who has excelled in a highly structured organisation may need time to adapt to a smaller, faster-moving company. Equally, someone who has thrived in a dynamic environment may struggle when processes and responsibilities are more rigid.

Past performance provides useful evidence, but context matters.

A CV can demonstrate experience and technical skills. It is much less effective at showing how quickly someone learns, how they respond to setbacks or how they behave when faced with unfamiliar challenges.

The key is to distinguish between the skills a candidate must already possess and the capabilities they can realistically develop.

2. Assess Potential Through Behaviour, Not Impressions

Potential should not be a vague feeling or a substitute for objective assessment. It should be evaluated through observable behaviours, concrete examples and structured questions.

Rather than relying on generic questions such as “Where do you see yourself in five years?”, explore how candidates have approached real situations.

Learning agility

Ask: “Tell me about a skill or subject you had to learn from scratch. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?”

Look for curiosity, a structured learning process, initiative and the ability to turn new knowledge into practical results.

Adaptability

Ask: “Tell me about a time when priorities changed unexpectedly. How did you respond?”

Look for the ability to reassess priorities, communicate clearly and take constructive action in uncertain situations.

Communication and collaboration

Ask: “Describe a disagreement with a colleague or stakeholder. How did you work towards a solution?”

Look for active listening, clear reasoning, respect for different perspectives and a willingness to work towards a shared outcome.

Motivation and role alignment

Ask: “Which aspects of your work give you the most energy, and which do you find most challenging?”

Look for alignment between the candidate's motivations and the realities of the position, not simply an enthusiastic answer.

Openness to feedback

Explore how candidates respond when their assumptions are challenged. Invite them to reconsider an answer or examine an alternative approach.

The objective is not to reward candidates who always agree. It is to understand whether they can consider new information, reflect on their reasoning and adjust their approach when appropriate.

To make the process fairer, use consistent questions, clear evaluation criteria and the same scoring framework for every candidate. Assess evidence rather than relying on personal chemistry or intuition alone.

Potential is valuable only when it is assessed thoughtfully.

3. Remember: Candidates Are Evaluating You, Too

Recruitment is a two-way decision.

While employers assess a candidate's skills, motivation and potential, candidates are forming their own opinions about the organisation. They observe how the process is managed, how expectations are communicated and how people talk about their work.

A recruitment process is often the candidate's first meaningful experience of the company's culture.

Three principles can make a difference.

Be transparent about the role. Explain the responsibilities, expectations and challenges, not only the attractive aspects of the opportunity.

Be honest about the working environment. Give candidates a realistic understanding of how decisions are made, how teams collaborate and how mistakes are handled.

Respect candidates' time. Set clear expectations for the recruitment timeline and provide feedback when promised, regardless of the outcome.

Presenting the role honestly may mean that some candidates decide not to proceed. That is not necessarily a failure. It can prevent a mismatch that would otherwise emerge after hiring.

The objective is not simply to convince someone to join. It is to help both sides make an informed decision.

4. Build for Performance: Turn Potential into Results

Hiring for potential comes with a responsibility.

If a company recruits someone because they believe that person can grow into a role, it must also provide the conditions needed for that growth to happen.

Without clear expectations, appropriate support and opportunities to learn, potential can quickly turn into frustration. Even a highly capable individual may struggle in an environment that offers little guidance or unclear priorities.

Three practices can help turn potential into sustainable performance.

Structured onboarding

Give new hires a clear understanding of the organisation, their responsibilities and what success looks like.

During the first 90 days, prioritise learning alongside performance objectives. The initial phase may focus on understanding the business and its processes, followed by increasing responsibility and, where appropriate, greater autonomy.

The pace should reflect the complexity of the role and the experience the individual brings.

Mentorship and knowledge sharing

Pairing new employees with experienced colleagues can accelerate learning, facilitate integration and help transfer knowledge that is rarely documented.

This is particularly valuable when a person brings strong transferable skills but needs time to understand the company's specific systems, products or ways of working.

Progressive responsibility and constructive feedback

Give employees opportunities to take ownership, test their knowledge and learn from mistakes within appropriate boundaries.

Regular feedback helps identify progress, address difficulties early and adjust development objectives.

Hiring for potential does not mean lowering performance expectations. It means creating a realistic path towards meeting them.

The Takeaway: Hire for What Matters, Build for What Comes Next

Experience provides evidence. Potential offers possibilities. Performance depends on how the two come together in the right environment.

A strong recruitment decision starts by identifying the essential capabilities a role requires, then assessing how a candidate's experience, behaviour and capacity to learn align with the organisation's needs.

The most effective approach is to:

• Attract candidates through transparency about the role, the culture and the challenges ahead.
• Assess relevant skills, observable behaviours, adaptability and learning ability.
• Develop the conditions, support and opportunities that enable people to perform and grow.

At Hondy&Co, we believe that effective recruitment goes beyond matching CVs to job descriptions. It means understanding what a business needs today, recognising the capabilities a candidate can bring, and identifying where both can create lasting value.

The right hire is not always the person who has done the same job before. It is the person whose capabilities, potential and working environment align with what the business needs to achieve.