Potential Over Pedigree: The Future of Hiring
by: Heidi Sawyer, Manager, Market Engagement - Manpower Maine
The greatest hiring challenge today isn’t a talent shortage — it’s tunnel vision. Too many organizations chase pedigree when they should be cultivating potential.
In defining what “qualified” looks like, companies often become so exacting that they overlook people who could excel in the role. Exceptional talent slips through the cracks not because it lacks ability — but because it lacks the “right” label.
The truth is: pedigree doesn’t predict performance — potential does. Strict degree or experience requirements not only vastly limit your talent pool, but they also often leave you missing out on some candidates that will not only succeed – sometimes excel – in moving your business forward.
Here’s how you can hire for potential without compromising on quality.
Screen Candidates In — Not Out
Traditional hiring tends to focus on weeding people out. But the future really belongs to companies that know how to bring the right people in — people who can grow, adapt, and learn as the world (and the work) keeps shifting around us.
A “screening in” mindset is about seeing what someone can do, not just where they’ve worked or what titles that they’ve had. It puts value on transferable skills, curiosity, grit, and real potential to grow. Yes, past experience matters — but in a world that’s always changing, it’s just as important to have people who can change right along with it.
When employers get clear about the skills and behaviors that truly lead to success — and hire based on those things instead of strict, ‘sounds-good-on-paper’ checklists — they discover a vast talent pool they might have otherwise overlooked.
This approach expands the talent pool in the US 15.9x according to a Recent LinkedIn study. This improves diversity, and fuels retention. Hiring for potential means building the next generation of leaders, not just filling roles.
Distinguish “Essential” from “Added-Value” Skills
Many job descriptions are overloaded with “nice-to-haves” that masquerade as must-haves, resulting in longer hiring cycles, smaller candidate pools, and missed opportunities.
Start with outcomes. Identify the top three to five results that define success in the role — then work backward. What skills and competencies are truly essential to achieving those outcomes?
Define them in plain language — ditch clichés like “team player” or in favor of terms such as “Success in this role requires effective team work—you’ll work with others to protect quality, reach daily production numbers, and follow safe operating practices at all times.”
Go beyond the job posting. Talk with employees and leaders who understand what drives results on the front lines. Their input helps you see what truly matters in the role — and what’s just noise.
From there, take time to think about the real challenges someone in this job will face.
Then, look at the practical challenges that come with the job and what it really takes to handle them well. When you clearly distinguish what’s truly essential from what’s just “nice to have,” you create space for talented candidates who have the right abilities — even if their backgrounds don’t look traditional on paper.
Create a Structured Interview Rubric
Structure doesn’t box you in — it creates a fair playing field. What’s a rubric? Simply, it is a clear, structured scoring guide that covers what you are evaluating and how you’re evaluating it. They help maintain consistency by using a numeric anchored rating scale (1-5) which helps reduce unintended bias when evaluating candidates.
When building a rubric, begin by listing the necessary skills to succeed in this specific role that you will be evaluating:
For example, if you’re hiring a Customer Service Manager, you’re likely looking for things like:
- Leadership: Scheduling, coaching, supporting the team, and performance management
- Technology: Proficiency with Microsoft Office, Teams, SharePoint, and other CRM tools
- Communication: The ability to motivate, handle tough conversations, and de-escalate situations with confidence
- Problem Solving: Spotting errors, improving processes, and helping the team tackle technical challenges
Once you have identified all the skills you are looking for – what specific interview questions will you be asking? For example:
- How do you handle scheduling conflicts between staff during peak demand? How was it resolved?
- Can you share a time when you had to give someone tough feedback? How did you approach it, and what happened afterward? Would you change how you handled things at all?
- Think back to a moment when a customer was really frustrated or upset. How did you handle the situation, and what helped calm things down?
Most scoring rubrics include a small comment box where interviewers can capture brief notes or standout quotes from a candidate’s response.
Don’t Guess — Assess
Anyone can claim they can do anything — but there is substantial power in evidence.
Validated assessments give you real, reliable data so you can make decisions you feel confident about — without relying on gut instinct or being swayed by someone’s résumé style or background. When you put candidates through the same assessments, you have an opportunity to compare ‘apples to apples’ – and this is a strong piece of data when making a hiring decision.
One thing to always keep in mind is that it is only one piece of data in the whole picture so the results should inform but not dictate your decision. Test anxiety is a widely accepted psychological phenomenon which can skew the results of employment-based skills assessments especially when the outcome can be substantial.
Hold Panel or Peer Interviews — Strategically
When done effectively, Multiple perspectives improve hiring decisions. In order for it to be done effectively, you need to ensure that everyone involved in interviewing is trained on the same criteria and knows how to apply it consistently.
When you include peers in the interview process you can gain insight from candidates that may not get shared with those that candidates view in positions of power. There is also something to be said about showing a candidate how you value staffs opinion on hiring matters, and it also helps peers become more invested in the success of the candidates that they select in the hiring process.
Pro Tip: To avoid unnecessary delays – and to keep candidates from disengaging – schedule all interviews for the same day if possible. Have back-up interviewers or virtual options available to prevent scheduling bottlenecks.
Leverage the Working Interview
No process — resumes, interviews, or assessments — reveals fit like real work.
Working interviews or temp-to-hire arrangements give both sides a chance to “test the waters” in a real work setting. Employers get to see how someone actually performs, how they mesh with the team, and how they handle day-to-day challenges. At the same time, candidates get a feel for the culture, the expectations, and what it’s really like to work there.
30–90 day working interviews are a winning strategy for top employers across Maine and the country. The key is decisive action: when you find a strong performer, make an offer quickly. Great talent doesn’t wait — and neither should you.
The Takeaway
Choosing potential over pedigree doesn’t just help you find great employees — it helps you build a workforce that’s ready to move your company forward now and in the future. Companies that embrace this approach win on two fronts: they fill roles more quickly and they create workplaces where people stick around, keep learning, and grow their careers.
That’s more than good hiring practice — it’s how modern organizations stay strong and adaptable in a constantly changing world of work.
📚 References
American Psychological Association. (2022). Test anxiety: How it affects performance. APA Dictionary of Psychology & Research Summaries.
Campion, M. A., Campion, E. D., & Campion, M. C. (2023). Structured interviews: Best practices for improving reliability and validity. Journal of Applied Psychology.
Levashina, J., Hartwell, C. J., & Morgeson, F. P. (2022). The structured panel interview: Enhancing fairness and predictive validity. Personnel Psychology.
LinkedIn Economic Graph. (2023). Skills-first: How to build a skills-based organization.
McKinsey & Company. (2022). Taking a skills-based approach to building the future workforce. McKinsey Organizational Performance Practice.
Putwain, D. W., & Symes, W. (2022). Test anxiety and academic performance: A meta-analytic review. Educational Psychology Review.
SHRM. (2022). Using assessments in the hiring process. Society for Human Resource Management Talent Acquisition Research.
Smith, P. C., & Kendall, L. M. (2022). Behaviorally anchored rating scales: Development and application. In Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. (Original work published 1963)
