Is your company seeking new employees? This article is for you! Every employer or recruiter is looking for well-educated, qualified, experienced workers. And you’ll find them on the job site Jobsora, which suggests many resumes of qualified candidates.
It sometimes happens that even qualified candidates suffer from a lack of job offers. This is due to the economic situations across the world. And they apply even if they are overqualified for a particular job. Overqualification means that a person has an education and skills far beyond what is required.
At first glance, it seems ideal for an employer to hire such a candidate. But digging deeper, you’ll understand that it’s not so good in a different perspective. There are pros and cons of hiring overqualified applicants to work for a business. Take them into account before making a decision.
Advantages of hiring an overqualified applicant
- Hiring such an employee can be beneficial for the company; the newcomer will bring fresh ideas and approaches and highlight new opportunities.
- This new staff member doesn’t need any training. He/she is ready to work effectively from the first day of employment. And you can broaden the responsibilities of your new hire quite soon.
- He/she can share their knowledge, experience, social and business contacts with other coworkers, which can upgrade the success level of the whole team. Your company performance will rise.
- Having such an experienced and qualified employee will add points to your company reputation. Your competitiveness will increase. The door for other talented individuals will be opened.
- Productiveness and income of your company will increase due to experience, qualification and contacts of your new employee.
As you can see, we have quite a long list of possible advantages. What a temptation to hire this employee without thinking even a minute! However, let’s consider the disadvantages first.
Disadvantages of hiring an overqualified individual
1. Such a staff member can cause an unhealthy atmosphere among coworkers which can become a toxic work environment. That means other employees may feel uncomfortable or even threatened when working with an overqualified person. In particular, his/her supervisor might experience difficulties.
It depends on his personality, whether this discomfort will be overcome or get deeper. And you, as a leader, must foresee and prevent future difficulties. Otherwise, don’t hire such an applicant!
2. You have to assign more difficult tasks and provide challenges for overqualified employees to keep them happy. Or they will soon get bored. And this can be harmful to the workflow and productivity of the whole team. Maybe you have to provide fast career growth for him/her. Are you ready for such decisions?
3. The risk of them quitting is possible. If you want a new hire to stay in your company, provide and show him/her interesting perspectives. What is the person going to get if he/she works for your company? Will they get good experience, knowledge, and increasing benefits? Career, salary rise, other bonuses? Think it over in advance. If you aren’t ready to guarantee such satisfaction, you’ll have to hunt for another employee soon. It’s a pain!
The list of disadvantages is much shorter, but there are quite serious obstacles to hiring an overqualified individual. You should have a frank conversation with him/her. Explain your expectations, why it is important for you to hire this person. Show perspectives for this applicant. Ask about his/her goals. What is the main reason to work for your company? Study the candidate’s personality carefully. It’s important to integrate any newcomer, especially overqualified ones, with the team.
And before making a decision, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you ready for challenges?
- Are you ready to provide the right climate in the workplace?
- Will you be able to provide future promotions if you promised them?
- Would you hire this person without his/her high qualifications?
- Does the candidate have a sincere interest in your company?
If the answers to these questions are ‘yes’, you can hire this applicant. But, remember, things won’t be easy if you choose him/her.
What can be more interesting than new challenges? Good luck!
