Avoid hiring people with academic backgrounds, there are many other things to consider.
Finding the ideal applicant to hire can be difficult for hiring managers and recruiters. There are several things to take into account, such as the candidate’s credentials, abilities, experience, attitude, and personality. The balance between experience and education, on the other hand, is a component that has long been the subject of discussion. While some firms place a higher value on education than on experience, others disagree.
While schooling offers a broad knowledge base, experience is a greater predictor of performance. Selecting a candidate who performed successfully in a previous position or who has extensive expertise in the relevant industry assures that they possess the necessary knowledge and abilities. Also, individuals with relevant experience are better able to quickly transition into a new position and take on larger responsibility than direct education background candidates.
The practical information and abilities a candidate acquires via experience can help them make better decisions and solve problems. This is as a result of their exposure to various issues and the valuable solutions they have gained from experience.
Experience is essential when trying to solve a problem. Applicants with experience are better able to recognize problems and propose workable solutions. They have also overcome obstacles and can offer insightful commentary in addition to exhibiting their capacity to learn from mistakes, which is a skill that cannot be acquired in a classroom.
A formal education only offers a wide comprehension of a certain subject and a narrow scope of information. It might not always offer a clear understanding of how to use that information in actual circumstances. Contrarily, experience offers useful knowledge and skills and aids in the creation of answers to challenges encountered in the actual world.
Lack of exposure to real-world situations: educational institutions give students theoretical knowledge and abilities that do not translate well to real-world situations. Graduates frequently don’t have much real-world experience, which can make them unskilled and require extra time to adjust to big responsibilities. The company can incur unplanned costs as a result, such lower productivity and higher training costs.
Education may unintentionally overshadow experience in the eyes of employers, who may place more weight on a candidate’s educational background than on their work history. The corporation might miss out on good people who might not have had the necessary educational credentials but did have relevant experience that could help the business progress as a result of this excessive emphasis on education.
How to assess a candidate’s experience: Conduct a behavioral interview. Such inquiries aid in revealing how the applicant handled challenges, worked well with people, and displayed other crucial abilities in prior positions. Utilizing behavioral interview questions, recruiters can identify a candidate’s areas of strength and growth.
Employ Real-Life Scenarios: Putting interviewees through real-life situations can be a good method to gauge their knowledge, attitude, and experience. It can assist the recruiter in determining a candidate’s capacity for autonomous thought, decision-making, and problem-solving.
Examines a candidate’s attitude during the interview. The interviewer should be on the lookout for positivity, energy, indicators of self-motivation, and a desire to take on difficulties. Questions can be combined to form behavioral-based and generic interview questions.
Think about cultural fit. To make sure that the applicants are in line with the organization’s values, mission, and goals, it is crucial to evaluate the candidates’ cultural fit during the hiring process. Even if a candidate has excellent academic credentials and expertise, if they don’t fit with the corporate culture, it could create problems and ultimately result in a failed hire.
This in no way implies that a person’s educational background is unimportant. The purpose of this essay is to highlight the fact that there are other factors to take into account when selecting a qualified applicant and that we shouldn’t automatically rule out qualified candidates based merely on the names of their universities or faculties.
0ver 15 years’ experience in Executive Search and leading recruitment teams, Nina has wide experience servicing clients in different sectors including manufacturing, automotive, electronics, chemical, retail and life science. Nina recently set up a boutique recruitment firm, APlus Career Recruitment Co., Ltd. in 2022, serving clients in recruitment and HR solutions. Contact us for more details.