In today’s fast-paced job market, hiring based solely on a CV is like trying to understand someone’s story just by reading the contents page.
A CV lists skills, qualifications, job titles. But it doesn’t show hunger. It doesn’t show resilience. It doesn’t reveal mindset, cultural fit, or that spark that makes someone a future star.
If your hiring process stops at a CV, you’re missing the most important part of what makes a great hire: the person.
Step 1: Evaluate for Potential, Not Just Experience
Let’s get real. Experience matters—but potential changes the game.
Gino Wickman’s Traction framework nails it with three questions to evaluate anyone:
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Do they understand the role?
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Are they passionate about the work?
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Do they have the capacity to grow?
That’s where great hires thrive—where passion, understanding, and potential all come together. Anyone can tick boxes. Few can build legacies.
Need proof? Manchester United hired José Mourinho in 2016 based on his stellar CV—Champions League wins, multiple league titles. But he didn’t align with the club’s culture or long-term vision. Despite the paper credentials, it ended in failure.
Step 2: Balance Experience and Rookie Talent
Building a successful team requires a balanced mix of experience and fresh talent. Hiring should be approached in the same way as assembling a top-performing sports team (sorry!) Experienced hires, much like a player such as Harry Kane, deliver immediate results but often come at a premium. Rookie talent, on the other hand, like your Jude Bellinghams, brings energy, fresh thinking, and adaptability, but requires mentorship and development that needs to be invested in, but could reap rewards for the team (business).
At Kingston Barnes, a balance has been found between hiring experienced recruiters and bringing in ambitious trainees who align with the company culture. For example, Kate Hallett, one of our KB employees is a recruitment veteran with over 20 years of experience, while Danny Vince is brand new to the industry and we are currently training him up to be another top KB recruiter. Despite their differences in experience, both individuals share the company’s values, making them the perfect fit for the team.
A winning team is not made up of twelve star players. Success comes from balance, where rookies are molded and shaped into high performers while the expertise of seasoned professionals is leveraged. The best teams are not built on ability alone but on trust, collaboration, and a diverse range of skills that drive long-term success.
The hiring process at Kingston Barnes goes beyond experience, incorporating key values into promotion criteria, personal development programs, and overall business strategy. The winning formula? Hire for mindset. Build for balance. Develop people who want to grow.
Step 3: Go with Your Gut (But Have a Process)
When hiring someone new, trusting your gut can be a powerful tool, it’s often your subconscious picking up on cues that a CV can’t capture, like authenticity, passion, or emotional intelligence. But relying on instinct alone can be risky, which is why it’s just as crucial to have a solid, structured process in place to ensure fairness, clarity, and alignment with your company’s values.
The sweet spot lies in the balance: using your process to filter for competence, while letting intuition guide you toward potential. A great example of this is when Patagonia took a chance on a candidate who had no formal background in retail but showed a deep personal alignment with the brand’s environmental mission and a strong collaborative spirit during interviews. Despite her unconventional path, she quickly became a standout employee, eventually leading a regional team and helping drive one of the company’s most successful sustainability campaigns. Sometimes, the best hires are the ones whose potential can’t be fully captured in bullet points.
While intuition plays a role in hiring, a structured approach ensures consistency and objectivity. At Kingston Barnes, all new hires are assessed against eight core behaviors that form the foundation of a high-performance culture.
Step 4: Key Questions to Ask When Hiring
Having worked in recruitment for over two decades and having a team that has centuries of experience between them all, I’ve seen firsthand that the best hires are those who fit into your company’s culture and align with your mission, vision, and values, not just those with impressive credentials.
Even though it’s best practice to look at CVs, it’s also important to look beyond them. The quality of your hire is often dictated by the quality of your interview questions.
Ditch the generic stuff. Go deeper. Ask things like:
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When have you shown real resilience?
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How do you bounce back from criticism?
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What’s a personal risk you’ve taken—and what did you learn?
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How do you fuel your own confidence?
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What’s your life plan—and how does this role fit into it?
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What drives you—and what’s your biggest goal right now?
These questions reveal character. They uncover grit, ambition, and alignment. They show you the person, not just the paper.
Why It Matters
Looking beyond the CV means unlocking hidden potential. It means building a team not just of strong performers—but of people who live your mission, reflect your culture, and want to grow with you.
People make businesses. Not paper.
So next time you’re hiring, pause before you filter by job titles or degree grades. Ask yourself: Does this person have the potential to thrive here? Will they challenge us, elevate us, and fit the culture we’re building?
That’s how you hire for the long game.
Look beyond the paper. Focus on the person. That’s where the magic is.