What does it mean to see potential in people?

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

There is something interesting I learned a while ago and I’m excited about sharing it with you. I’ve learned that there is a difference between seeing the potential in a person and whether that person will reach this potential. While recruiting people, one of the questions I’ve asked myself was “what is the potential of the candidate?”. It’s good to look at people and see who they can become, not who they are now. For us, it’s crucial because we usually employ young graduates that are passionate and willing to learn new things. While I was recruiting I’ve learned an interesting lesson. That people in which I saw high potential does not reach it or they are reaching it very slowly. I was quite surprised and asked myself why.

I’ve learned that when someone has potential it doesn’t automatically mean that he or she will reach it. Therefore while recruiting people the better question to ask is “What is the potential that the candidate can reach?”. The answer to that question lies in the personality and not necessarily skill, intelligence, energy, etc.

During a one-hour recruiting meeting it’s hard to answer the question of what is the potential of the candidate. It’s even harder to predict will he or she reach this potential. I decided that I need to prepare myself better. What I did is I start to look at people I’ve recruited or worked with…