Having relevant experience is often one of the biggest challenges job hunters face, and it’s understandable that recruiters are usually looking for those with the most experience in the field. But pause for a moment; instead of hiring for experience, wouldn’t it be better to hire for potential.

When sifting through a pile of CVs it makes sense that you’d offer less time to those with little to no experience in the industry, but if you take a closer look you might find that they’re extremely intelligent, passionate and ambitious – all characteristics that make a great employee.

So as a small business owner or entrepreneur, what could throwing traditional recruitment processes out the window mean for your company?

Innovation

New and fresh ways of thinking are extremely important for the progression of any business. You could hire someone who currently holds the same role at their existing company, or someone who has twenty years of experience in the industry, but the likelihood is they’ll have seen and done it all before.

Someone with no experience isn’t fatigued and can bring innovative ideas to the table, they aren’t bound by the same industry expectations as those with a huge amount of previous experience.

From a business perspective it might feel like the safer option to hire someone who knows what they’re doing, and it will allow your business to continue to tick over nicely with minimal risk.

Though taking a chance on an inexperienced recruit might temporarily slow things down and feel like a bigger commitment, in the long run it is their fresh ideas and new ways of thinking that will help your business grow.

Hiring a diverse workforce can help create fresh perspectives and ideas

Passion

Taking a chance on someone with no experience, and training them up from scratch also means they’re more likely to give you 150% of their effort. Given the opportunity to learn to work in an entirely new industry and to gain a whole load of new skills, they’ll be eager to please, wanting to prove you made the right decision by hiring them.

And this is not to say they won’t have any relevant skills. While they may not have industry experience, they could bring with them a strong set of transferable skills that will help them to do the job effectively. This again could lead to innovative and creative ways of thinking, and new approaches to handling their daily tasks.

Adaptability

When someone is new to an industry, it will be easier to mould them as they’ll be more adaptable and open to new ways of doing things. Once you’ve been around for a while, it can be easy to become comfortable with your way of doing things. An inexperienced employee is like a clean slate, they have no bad habits to break, only good ones to make.

A New Generation

Training new and less experienced recruits is also important for creating the next generation of workers. It’s easy to stick to the status quo, but it’s not progressive. In order to create a strong new workforce, businesses need to take risks on ambitious and passionate candidates, and focus less on their level of experience.

We’re already seeing this with the rise of internships and apprenticeships on offer in the UK and it’s something I’ve seen work well in my own business: we’ve had interns that have grown with the business to manage teams.

Hiring an apprentice can be a strong investment for the future

The Perfect Fit

When it comes down to it, credentials and experience aren’t everything, otherwise there would be no need for the interview process. An inexperienced candidate could be a better fit for your company, than someone with loads of experience.

Part of the recruitment process is about matching candidates to your company culture, making sure that they will fit in and enjoy working for you, in order to create dedicated and happy employees.

Diversity

Not only will your new recruit bring diversity to the workforce, but they’ll also embrace it. As they lack experience they’ll be much more open to new ideas and taking suggestions from others, encouraging the  more experienced staff members (that might find this harder to do) to get involved as well.

By pushing aside traditional criteria, you might end up finding your perfect candidate. With training and time you can mould your new recruit into a strong and passionate team member, who is likely to be loyal to your company in return for the great opportunity.

You’ll be rewarded with innovative new ideas, while also helping to nurture the next generation of workers.