Ask HN: How to interview for potential, not experience?
Like, what are some strong indicators that someone with less experience might outperform someone with more experience, and vice-versa?
I am especially interested in well tested strategies, since it is so easy for very logical sounding ideas to have unintended consequences, or just not work in practice, and because I do not think this question has an easy answer.
For a little context, I have two decades of experience interviewing and hiring, and my process has been working very well in the sense that I've hired a lot of great people and haven't ever had to fire anyone I've accepted. But I'm sure there are good people I've turned down due to lack of experience, what I want is to improve my ability to spot great people who don't have a long history or many obvious successes yet, especially people who aren't even sure of their own abilities.
Every company & team I've ever been on has had this same goal, and wanted to prioritize potential over experience, but inevitably the interview process we end up with is nearly completely based on evaluating experience.
What are some ways to evaluate potential that have worked for you?