Education vs. Experience: What to Look for When Hiring
Combine qualifications, experiences, personality and behavior to ensure candidates will fit your company’s culture.

By Ken Mayer

For many companies, the recruiting process begins and ends with that ubiquitous hiring document—the resume. Although it certainly plays an integral role in determining a candidate’s experience and education, relying too much on the resume can cost your company significant time and resources. You may hire someone with impressive credentials and the perfect profile, only to realize in less than a month your new employee isn’t going to make it.

Most employers have discovered that education may prepare a candidate intellectually, but what makes them valuable is their experience in applying that education. In fact, the purpose of the recruiting process is to find the candidate whose experience applying what he or she has learned best fits the company’s need. To find top-notch candidates who best fit your company, you must combine your old recruiting techniques with high-caliber interviewing, screening and background checks.

Explore Experience
Inquire about revealing behaviors. “Behavioral interviewing” prompts interviewees to discuss their work experience and how they performed in a variety of situations. This behavioral approach illuminates a candidate’s knowledge, abilities and experiences, giving you a holistic picture of the person. Ask interviewees to tell you about a time when they managed a major project, completed a major project successfully or contributed to a successful team project.

Sometimes when you ask high quality, open-ended questions, candidates will give vague, overly detailed, or off-target answers.

Probe for clarifications and specifics that lead to the information you seek. Try questions such as:
•    What did you learn from that situation?
•    What would you have done differently?
•    What roadblocks did you face and how did you handle them?

Bolster Experience With Skill and “Fit” Assessment
To maximize your recruiting efforts, establish skill and “fit” assessment procedures. These provide an in-depth profile of a candidate by examining three perspectives:
•    Behavioral tendencies
•    Thinking style
•    Competency

Typical assessments involve psychological, mental and ability testing. Determine the candidate’s professional compatibility (“fit”) by comparing your company’s organizational and position-specific needs with the candidate’s results.

Detective Work Can Help Avoid Mistakes
Complete background checks—investigations into a candidate’s job experience, references, and educational, criminal and credit history—can protect your company from bad decisions. If your company can’t reasonably complete such checks, consider outsourcing the task. A basic background check—contacting each reference and former employer—may not uncover troublesome details.

For example, Generic Turf Co. needs a network specialist. After the basic background check, it considers offering the position to John Doe. But after a complete background check, the company withdrew the offer because he listed a college that couldn’t verify his attendance or degree, used someone else’s Social Security number and lied about his criminal history—he’d been convicted of mail fraud.

Generic Turf revoked its offer to John Doe. By going beyond a basic background check, the company avoided hiring an unacceptable candidate. A complete background check reflects a clearer image of candidates—their integrity, honesty and values.

Sell Your Work Environment
Another often-neglected hiring strategy is selling the work environment. Usually interviewers explain the what of the job but not the where or how. But, both parties need to be forthright about their needs. The candidate could spend 40 to 60 hours a week in this new work environment. Your candidates deserve to know what they’re getting into. At some point in the interview process, show interviewees the physical environment they may be working in. You can give a tour, show a video or ask an assistant to escort candidates around the premises.

Even more important than the physical environment is the cultural environment. Giving a clear description of your company’s business culture can help candidates decide whether you fit their needs. Specifically and candidly discuss your company’s expectations, values, work ethic and overall mission.

For instance, do you prefer your employees to work overtime on premises or take work home? Or is your company or the job so flexible that a new hire might feel lost in the shuffle?

Proper Recruitment Is Money Well-Spent
Many companies are realizing that candidates with flashy resumes pale when compared to candidates who not only meet their skill and experience needs but also fit their culture and organization.

To increase your success in hiring the right candidates, expand those old hiring methods with high-caliber interviewing, screening and background checks. Hire for overall fit rather than for job skills alone—assuming the candidate meets the position’s core competencies. Remember, you can more easily teach skills than change attitude or personality.

So, examine the candidates’ qualifications and experiences, but also determine whether their personality and behavior will fit your company’s culture.

Ken Mayer is President of The Mayer Group, Inc., an Overland Park company specializing in management advisory and coaching services, organizational performance and human resources management. He may be reached at (913) 327-1900.