The common experience recruiters face is to choose a candidate with high academic credentials or one with years of experience in the field. As a recruiter, your job becomes easy if the candidate has both the best education and the most experience. However, that may not be the case every time.

1. Requisites Of A Job Market — Education Or Experience
Many a time, while choosing a candidate for a job you would have to make a choice between the two
requisites, education or experience. Here, you need to play your cards with caution, for your decision has
a lot of bearing on adding value to the position. If you choose the experienced person, you may have the
advantage of reducing the start-up time because on job experience enables the employee to adapt to the
new role and deliver the goods in quick time.
However, all kinds of experience need not be relevant to the field advertised. Besides, experienced people
sometimes come with rigid work practices which may not suit your culture. Selecting such employees can
be counterproductive. This will affect the other employees’ morale and eventually coordination and
productivity too.
Therefore, consider the following while making your decision:
Job requirements
Consider whether the job you advertise needs an experienced person. For instance, if the job needs a
person with a Master’s degree and more than 10 years’ experience and you have a candidate with four
years’ experience, you had better look for a candidate with the required years of experience. This is
because a Master’s degree cannot cover lack of experience. In case the position is at a junior level and the
work is less complex, there is no point in choosing an experienced person.
On the other hand, if the work is complex and you cannot afford learning time and training for your new
hire, you cannot risk taking in an inexperienced person. Instead, you should choose the experienced
person with relevant expertise, despite his lack of sufficient formal education.
Educational qualifications
Like all experiences, all educational qualifications can never be relevant to your field. You need to consider
whether the degree or diploma your candidate holds is relevant to your area of work and whether it is
from a reputed university. Consider the projects he has worked on during his study years. This
experience, if similar to your area of work, can enable him to quickly adjust to your work setting.
In addition, check if the university has a well-structured alumni network. This may get you additional
resources, if needed.
The company culture
This is an important aspect because it will affect the survival of the incoming employee. Supposing your
workforce has high educational qualifications and they value this fact, they may not adapt to colleague
with low qualifications or this will affect team compatibility.
Therefore, consider all aspects concerning the position you are hiring for before you make a final decision.
The decision you make should get the right person to fit the position advertised and ensure that he is
happy and grows in the Company.
Do share your thoughts on the same.
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