Hiring for Potential vs. Experience: Rethinking Entry-Level Hiring

Hiring for Potential vs. Experience: Rethinking Entry-Level Hiring

Entry-level roles are often the starting point for someone building their career, but finding the right candidate can still be challenging.

Employers want to bring in people who can contribute to their teams and take on the responsibilities of the position. However, expecting candidates to already have significant experience can make it harder to recognize individuals who have the skills and potential to succeed, even if they haven't held a similar role before.

When it comes to entry-level hiring, looking beyond direct experience can open the door to candidates who might otherwise be overlooked.

Experience Doesn't Always Have to Be Direct

A candidate may not have held the exact position before, but that doesn't mean they are starting without relevant experience.

Internships, part-time jobs, school projects, and previous roles in other industries can all help someone develop skills that translate into the workplace. Someone with customer service experience, for example, may have developed strong communication and problem-solving skills that could be valuable in marketing, recruiting, retail, or other areas of a business.

Understanding what someone has learned from their previous experiences can provide a better picture of what they could bring to a new role.

Looking Beyond the Resume

Resumes can be particularly limiting for candidates who are just beginning their careers. Without years of professional experience to highlight, their qualifications may not immediately stand out on paper.

Consider someone who balanced school with a part-time job or took on leadership responsibilities in a student organization. While those experiences may not directly relate to the position they're applying for, they can demonstrate time management, initiative, and the ability to take on responsibility. Asking candidates about their accomplishments, challenges, and interests can help employers recognize strengths that might otherwise be missed.

Potential Is Worth Considering

For entry-level positions, employers have an opportunity to consider not only what a candidate already knows, but also what they are capable of learning.

Qualities like adaptability, curiosity, initiative, and a willingness to take on new challenges can be especially valuable early in someone's career. A candidate who demonstrates an interest in developing their skills may be well-positioned to grow alongside the team.

Experience will always have a place in hiring decisions. For positions where training and development are part of the role, however, potential can be just as important when evaluating candidates.

Understanding What Can Be Taught

Not every qualification needs to be something a candidate brings with them on their first day. Some positions require specific technical knowledge or foundational skills, while other responsibilities can be learned through training and hands-on experience.

For example, an entry-level marketing candidate may not have experience with the exact platform a company uses, but they might already understand content creation, communication, and basic campaign strategy. With the right training, learning a new platform may be a reasonable part of their development.

Before beginning a search, employers can benefit from identifying which skills are essential, and which can realistically be developed after someone joins the team. The level of training and support available should also factor into those expectations.

Building Talent for the Future

Entry-level hiring isn't only about filling an immediate opening. For growing brands, these positions can also be an opportunity to develop talent that may take on greater responsibilities over time.

Someone joining a merchandising, ecommerce, marketing, or retail team early in their career has the opportunity to learn the business from the ground up. As they gain experience, build relationships, and develop a deeper understanding of the brand, they may become ready for more specialized responsibilities or leadership opportunities.

Thinking beyond the immediate needs of a position can help employers recognize the longer-term value of investing in developing talent.

Finding the Right Balance

Hiring for potential doesn't mean overlooking the qualifications that matter. The goal is to understand which skills are necessary from the beginning and where there is room for someone to grow.

At EB, we understand that a candidate's potential isn't always obvious from their resume. Our experience recruiting across the fashion, home, and beauty industries helps us recognize transferable skills, understand different career backgrounds, and consider how someone's experience could translate to a new opportunity.

The right entry-level hire may not have every skill developed on day one. Taking the time to recognize what someone already brings to the table, along with what they have the potential to become, can make a meaningful difference in building a strong team.

Supporting HR Teams Through the Hiring Process

HR Teams Do a Lot. The Right Recruiting Partner Can Help.

HR teams are responsible for so much more than hiring. On any given day, they may be supporting employees, navigating benefits, managing performance, strengthening company culture, handling compliance, and thinking about what their teams need next.

Talent acquisition is an important part of that work, but when hiring picks up or a particularly challenging role opens, recruiting can quickly become another priority competing for time.

With HR Appreciation Day coming up on September 26th, we wanted to recognize the teams behind so much of what keeps a company moving and highlight how the right recruiting partnership can provide additional support when needed.

At EB, we don’t see ourselves as a replacement for an internal HR or talent acquisition team. We’re here to be an extension of the team, stepping in where extra support can make the biggest difference.

Creating More Room for Other Priorities

Hiring can take a significant amount of time, especially when several roles are open at once. Sourcing candidates, reviewing resumes, scheduling interviews, following up, checking references, and working through offers all require attention.

Taking on some of the recruiting workload can give internal teams more room to focus on the other priorities that need their attention. The level of support can look different for every organization, whether EB is managing an entire search or helping with specific parts of the hiring process.

Our goal is to make the process easier while working alongside the internal team already doing the work.

Extra Support for the Searches That Need It

Some roles are simply harder to fill than others. A niche skill set, competitive market, senior-level position, or particularly specific brand fit can make a search more challenging.

An outside recruiting partner can bring another perspective and a wider talent network into the process. Many of our recruiters at EB come from the industries we recruit for, giving our team firsthand knowledge of the roles, brands, and talent within them.

Our recruiters also spend every day building relationships with candidates, including people who may not be actively applying to jobs. When an internal team has already explored its usual channels, a broader network can help connect the search with talent they may not have reached otherwise.

A Partner for Confidential Searches

Certain searches also require an added level of discretion. A sensitive transition, leadership position, or organizational change may call for a hiring process that stays confidential during the early stages.

Working with a recruiting partner can create some separation between the company and the initial search. EB can handle outreach and early conversations discreetly while keeping the internal team involved at the right points throughout the process.

Flexibility When the Team Needs It

Not every hiring need has an immediate permanent solution. A team may need additional support now while taking the time to find the right long-term hire.

Temporary talent can help bridge the gap during a busy season, while a permanent search is underway, or when an existing team simply needs additional support.

Recruiting partnerships can offer that same flexibility. Working with an agency doesn’t always mean handing over every open role. Extra support may be helpful for one difficult search, a period of rapid growth, or a particularly busy stretch when the internal team has more on its plate.

Helping With the Details, Too

Smaller pieces of the hiring process can often take up more time than expected. Writing or refining job descriptions, coordinating interviews, keeping candidates updated, checking references, and supporting offer negotiations can quickly add to an already full workload.

EB can step in to help manage those details and keep the process moving while staying aligned with the internal team.

Working closely with HR also gives our recruiters a better understanding of the company’s culture, team, and brand DNA. Over time, that context allows us to approach future searches with a clearer understanding of both the experience needed and the kind of person who can thrive within the organization.

An Extension of the Team

Some of our strongest recruiting relationships are built through ongoing partnership.

Internal HR teams bring a deep understanding of their people, culture, and business. EB brings additional recruiting resources, industry experience, candidate relationships, and the ability to step in when hiring requires more time or reach than the internal team has available.

Bringing those strengths together allows both teams to work toward the same goal: finding the right people while creating a thoughtful hiring experience along the way.

This HR Appreciation Day, we’re celebrating the people balancing so many of the moving pieces behind great teams. When recruiting adds another priority to an already full plate, EB is here to work alongside HR teams and help make the process a little easier.

AI As Part of the Hiring Conversation

AI As Part of the Hiring Conversation

AI has quickly become part of the way many teams work, and naturally, it’s starting to come up more often in hiring conversations, too.

As recruiters, we’re seeing employers take an interest in candidates who have some familiarity with AI and understand how it can support their work. This doesn’t necessarily mean being an AI expert or having a technical background. In many cases, employers are looking for candidates who are comfortable with the tools available and understand when they can make a process more efficient.

For candidates thinking about their next move, AI experience is becoming another skill worth developing and, when relevant, talking about during the hiring process.

AI Experience Can Look Different Across Roles

There isn’t one definition of “AI experience,” especially across creative and consumer industries. How someone uses AI in a marketing role will look very different from how it might support someone working in design, ecommerce, recruiting, finance, or operations.

A marketer might use AI to help organize research or analyze campaign insights, while someone in ecommerce could use it to work through product data or identify patterns. Creative teams may explore AI during early research and ideation, while other functions might use it to simplify repetitive administrative work.

The value comes from understanding how the technology can support the work while still relying on the experience, judgment, and creativity behind it.

Employers Are Interested in How It’s Being Used

Simply listing an AI platform under the skills section of a resume doesn’t say much on its own. Sharing how that platform has actually been used can give employers a much better sense of someone’s experience with AI.

If an AI tool helped streamline a process, organize information, support research, or save time on a repetitive task, that context tells a much stronger story. Candidates can include relevant examples on a resume, but these experiences can also come up naturally during an interview.

There’s a difference between knowing the name of an AI tool and understanding how to use it thoughtfully. As AI becomes more common in the workplace, that distinction is becoming more important.

Curiosity Goes a Long Way

AI is changing quickly, which means there will always be something new to learn. Candidates don’t need experience with every platform or the latest tool to show that they’re comfortable with the technology.

Taking the time to explore the tools that are relevant to a particular field can be a good place to start. This could mean learning how AI is already being used within a current role, experimenting with a new platform, or simply staying informed about how the technology is changing the industry.

For someone early in their AI experience, talking about what they’ve learned and where they see opportunities to use it can be just as meaningful as having a long list of tools on a resume.

The Human Side Still Matters

With so much conversation around AI, it can be easy to assume that every employer is looking for someone who can automate more of their work. What we’re seeing is more nuanced, with employers showing interest in AI skills while continuing to value the human experience behind the work.

The skills that have always mattered still matter. Creativity, communication, industry knowledge, problem-solving, leadership, and good judgment don’t become less valuable when AI enters the picture. If anything, knowing how to pair those skills with new technology can make them even stronger.

In industries built around brands and people, the human perspective remains a big part of the work.

Adding AI to the Career Story

For candidates already using AI, it may be worth taking another look at how that experience is represented professionally. Rather than adding “AI” as a standalone skill, think about where it has actually made a difference in the work.

A resume bullet can mention a process that became more efficient. A portfolio might show how AI supported research or ideation while still making the candidate’s own contribution clear. During an interview, a real example can help explain not only which tools were used, but why they were useful.

As recruiters, we’re always paying attention to the skills employers are asking about and how those needs are changing. AI is becoming part of that conversation, but it’s still one piece of a much bigger picture when evaluating talent.

The goal isn’t to become an AI expert overnight. Staying curious, continuing to learn, and understanding how these tools can complement existing skills and experience can help candidates feel more prepared as AI becomes a bigger part of the workplace.

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What We’re Hearing From Talent

What We’re Hearing From Talent

As recruiters, we spend a lot of time talking with people about work. Those conversations go beyond what someone does day to day. We hear about what they enjoy, where they want to grow, what they’re ready for next, and what might make a new opportunity worth exploring.

Everyone has different priorities, but after enough conversations, certain themes start to come up again and again. Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about growth, flexibility, compensation, leadership, and how connected someone feels to the brand itself.

Growth Looks Different for Everyone

Career growth doesn’t always mean moving into a bigger title. Some candidates are ready to manage a team for the first time, while others want more ownership, exposure to a new category, or the chance to join a growing brand where they can make an impact.

We’re also hearing candidates ask more about where a role could take them. They want to understand what they’ll learn, how their responsibilities might grow, and what opportunities could open up over time. Sharing more of that story during the hiring process can give someone a much better sense of what a future with the company could look like.

The Brand Still Matters

We can usually tell when a candidate has a genuine connection to a brand. They may have followed it for years, love the product, connect with the aesthetic, or simply feel excited about what the company is building.

We talk a lot about brand DNA at EB, and that connection is a big part of it. A brand’s culture, values, aesthetic, product, and point of view all shape its identity, and candidates are paying attention to those details when thinking about where they want to work next.

Experience and skills will always matter, but they’re only part of the decision. Sharing what makes the brand different gives candidates a chance to understand the bigger picture and decide whether it feels like a place where they can see themselves.

Flexibility and Compensation Are Part of the Bigger Picture

Flexibility continues to come up, although what that means varies quite a bit. Some candidates prefer a hybrid schedule, some are looking for remote opportunities, and others enjoy being in the office with their team. There isn’t one working model that appeals to everyone, so being clear about expectations early can help make sure everyone is on the same page.

Compensation conversations are happening earlier, too, and they often include more than salary. Benefits, bonus potential, PTO, flexibility, and room for growth can all factor into how someone looks at an opportunity.

The more clarity there is around those details from the beginning, the easier it is for both sides to focus on whether the role itself is the right fit.

Leadership Plays a Big Part

Candidates want to know about the people they’ll actually be working with. We hear questions about who they’ll report to, how teams work together, what leadership looks like, and who they’ll have the opportunity to learn from.

Those details can be difficult to capture in a job description, but they often come through naturally during the interview process. Getting to know the people behind the role gives candidates a much more realistic sense of what joining the team could look like.

The Interview Experience Leaves an Impression

An interview is often one of a candidate’s first real experiences with a company. The communication leading up to it, the people they meet, the questions they’re asked, and the follow-up afterward all contribute to how they walk away feeling about the brand.

A thoughtful candidate experience doesn’t need to be complicated. Clear communication and transparency throughout the recruiting process can go a long way, even when someone isn’t ultimately hired. In industries where networks overlap and people stay connected; a positive experience can leave an impression well beyond one open role.

What We Can Learn From These Conversations

There will never be one checklist of what every candidate wants. People are at different stages of their careers, and the things that matter most will naturally change from person to person.

That’s why staying close to talent is such an important part of what we do. These conversations help us understand what people are looking for and give us insight we can bring back to the brands we partner with. Sometimes that means talking through compensation or candidate expectations. Other times, it’s looking at the interview process, employer branding, or how an opportunity is being positioned.

Ultimately, recruiting is about people. Listening to what matters to them is a pretty good place to start.

More on this topic:

• Welcome to the Industry: Looking Beyond the Traditional Resume

• More Than a Search: The Value of the Right Recruiting Partnership

• 5 Recruiting Tips for your Direct-to-Consumer Fashion Brand