Hiring managers often say they want someone with experience. It makes sense. Experience can reduce ramp-up time, provide confidence in a candidate's capabilities, and help teams avoid costly hiring mistakes.

The danger lies in relying too heavily on it: we can end up hiring for what someone has already done instead of what they are capable of doing next.

A resume tells us where someone has been. Where they can go is a different question entirely.

Consider a candidate who has never managed a team. Does that mean they lack leadership potential? Maybe...or maybe they have yet to be given the opportunity.

A candidate unfamiliar with a particular technology may simply come from an organization that used something different. Someone without direct industry experience may have spent years solving equally complex problems in a completely different environment.

Bringing it out in the Interview

Experience is valuable, but it is also heavily influenced by opportunity.

This is where interviewing for potential becomes important. Instead of only asking "Have you done this before?", interviewers should also ask:

• "What have you learned quickly?"
• "Tell me about something you took ownership of that was outside your original responsibilities."
• "What is the most significant way you've grown in the last few years?"
• "Tell me about a time you were given a responsibility you felt underprepared for. What did you do?"

These questions reveal something a resume often cannot: how someone responds when the answer requires figuring it out. Look for evidence of curiosity, adaptability, ownership, self-awareness, and a history of taking on increasing levels of responsibility. Those qualities can be much stronger indicators of future performance than checking every box on a job description.

The Experience Trap

Experience still matters. Some roles require specific technical expertise, certifications, or a depth of background that takes genuine time to build.

The challenge is knowing which requirements are truly essential and which have become requirements simply because "that's what we've always looked for."

There is also a larger problem with making experience the primary gatekeeper: the experience trap. We ask candidates to have experience before we will hire them, so how do they gain it when every employer requires it first?

Sometimes the candidate who needs a little more development becomes the strongest employee on the team.

Hiring for potential requires more judgment. It means looking beyond the neatness of a resume and paying attention to patterns: How quickly has this person learned? Have they consistently sought more responsibility? Do they respond well to feedback? Are they curious? Do they demonstrate the drive to figure things out?

The best candidate is rarely the person who can do the job perfectly on day one. Sometimes it is the person who has shown they can learn what they need to learn, grow into greater responsibility, and eventually take the job further than you originally imagined. Hire someone because they have shown you they can do what comes next.