The strongest appointment is not always the person who has already held the exact title.
Sometimes it is the person who is demonstrably ready for it.
Senior hiring briefs often describe the finished article: someone who has already operated at the required level, managed the same size of team, worked with the same type of clients and faced the same commercial challenge.
There are good reasons to value proven experience. Yet an overly literal brief can remove capable people from consideration simply because their current firm has not yet given them the title or scope they are ready to take on.
For accountancy firms, hiring for potential is not about lowering the bar. It is about defining the bar more intelligently and recognising evidence of readiness before it appears neatly on a CV.
Separate immediate essentials from developable experience
Every appointment carries some risk, including the appointment of someone who has done a similar job elsewhere. A more useful discussion is which risks the firm can manage and which it cannot.
Some requirements may genuinely be essential from the first day: a particular technical capability, the confidence to take responsibility for sensitive client relationships or experience of leading people through change. Other elements may be learnable with the right exposure and support, such as adapting to a larger portfolio, becoming more visible in business development or working within a different partnership structure.
When everything is labelled essential, the search becomes a hunt for familiarity. When the requirements are prioritised, the firm can compare evidence, capability and trajectory.
What readiness can look like
Potential is easy to claim and difficult to assess if it remains abstract. The strongest step-up candidates can usually show patterns in how their responsibility has grown. Relevant evidence may include:
- taking ownership beyond the formal limits of their current role;
- earning the trust of senior colleagues, clients and team members;
- making sound decisions when the answer is not obvious;
- learning quickly from unfamiliar or more complex situations;
- improving how work is delivered, rather than only completing it;
- developing others and raising standards around them;
- showing self-awareness about the areas in which they still need support.
No single example proves readiness. Taken together, however, these patterns can show that someone’s capability is already moving beyond the boundaries of their current title.
A step-up role must be real
Hiring a person for potential creates an obligation for the firm as well as the candidate. If the role is described as a progression opportunity, the successful person must receive the scope, access and sponsorship needed to progress.
A new title without greater authority can quickly become frustrating. So can a broad mandate that is withdrawn whenever a difficult decision arises. Before making the appointment, the firm should be clear about who will support the individual, which decisions they can own, what exposure they will receive and how progress will be reviewed.
Support does not mean removing challenge. It means creating the conditions in which the person can meet it.
How candidates can demonstrate they are ready
For candidates, the case for a step up should be built on evidence rather than aspiration alone. Saying you are ready for Director or Partner is less persuasive than showing how your behaviour and impact have already expanded.
Think about occasions when you influenced a decision without relying on status, retained confidence through a difficult client issue, helped a colleague develop or spotted an opportunity that others had missed. Be prepared to explain the situation, the judgement you applied, the result and what you learned.
It is equally important to be honest about the transition you would be making. A candidate who understands where support will be needed often presents a lower risk than someone who claims to have no development gaps.
Assess the person and the environment together
A step-up appointment can be highly effective when the candidate’s trajectory matches the firm’s opportunity. It can also fail when the organisation wants future potential but can only tolerate someone who arrives fully formed.
The decision should therefore consider two questions together: has this person shown credible evidence that they can grow into the mandate, and is this firm genuinely prepared to let them do so?
For firms, that opens a wider and often more relevant conversation about talent. For experienced professionals, it provides a better way to explain readiness than waiting for a title to catch up. GHR supports both sides through confidential, evidence-led conversations about the role, the transition and the conditions required for success.
