According to the results of a new report from Hays, the majority (80%) of UK employers would consider hiring staff based on their potential and upskilling them later. The news comes as 77% of employers say they are concerned about the skills shortages within their organisation and 60% of employees say they have concerns about skills shortages.

This trend seems to be matched by jobseekers, with  74% of professionals stating that they would also consider applying for a role even if they didn’t have all the required skills listed. The results also showed 60% of employers are providing training resources to current employees to address the business’ skills shortage. However, only 50% of professionals said they were satisfied with the learning resources provided.

Commenting on the findings, Simon Winfield, Managing Director of Hays UK and Ireland, said, “Amidst a challenging hiring market, it’s positive to see that employers are more willing to recruit staff who might not tick all the boxes. This might mean recruiting staff with the intention of upskilling them, or hiring staff from different industries and providing training opportunities. Employers need to work hard to find unexpected talent and step away from relying on the same recruitment pools that they may have been in the past.”

Relying on learning or training post-hiring is an innovative way to plug skills gaps, but in order for this to be successful, organisations must create a robust L&D culture and provide the right skilling opportunities to staff.