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As someone who may have stepped a few rungs up the corporate ladder by now, you’re likely well aware of the trials that potential hires undergo.
New employees are rightfully put through the ringer prior to being on boarded. Their experience is tested, their references are checked, and their communication skills are analyzed. They’re asked seemingly broad questions that require specific answers to please those conducting the interviews they take part in. Their life story shouldn’t just ramble on. Their accounts of past experiences should all show how well-prepared they are for the role they’re applying to now.
If you’ve recently found yourself to be in a position of analyzing potential hires, you’ve likely come to learn more about the hiring process than when you were the one being analyzed.
You now understand the patterns that new prospects get stuck in. You now see through those who’ve lied on their resume, and whose words have no substance behind them. The ones who choose to take the path of flattery have a stench of deception emanating off them.
Just as the potential hire navigates the rugged realm of pleasing you as a hiring manager, you’d simultaneously be making tedious analytical decisions on the strength of their candidacy. The interview consists of two (or more) people calmly conversing whilst their respective minds attempt to have a promising first dance.
You’ll come to meet potential prospects who check every box except the ones they can’t immediately control.
Prior professional experience is commonly a box that young prospects simply can’t do anything about. Those in the middle of a career switch may, too, find difficulty with similar aspects of their candidacy for the positions that you hire for.
This article is about some reasons why hiring an inexperienced employee may be a chance worth taking.
Assuming that these individuals impress you in the various other elements (education, certifications, assessments) of their candidacy, below are reasons why their inexperience shouldn’t stop you from considering their candidacy seriously as a whole.
Your Unique Will Be Their Normal
Progress moves in sync with originality. The desire to be original is adopted by many while only few achieve the kind of originality that propels the lives of many forward. The prospect of being an original leader will peak out at you as you find yourself in positions which grant you an ability to make impactful change.
Hiring people who help you achieve your vision of progress is only a small piece of the puzzle that you’d be tasked in deciphering on your way to enacting impactful change in your profession. That piece however, is an important one to think about.
The ones who come to you with many years of experience on their resume are likelier to have grown accustomed to a certain way of doing things in your field.
Even if the individual themselves is open to the creativity and uniqueness of your company, they won’t be able to escape the act of comparing their time now with their experiences from before. In having something to always compare to, their chances of deviating / detaching from the unique vision that you attempt to lay out are high.
You give yourself and your company a better chance to shape young minds by hiring those who don’t have extensive experience prior to coming to you.
The inexperienced haven’t grown accustomed to doing things the right or wrong way, and they haven’t grown rigid in their working habits and desires. They haven’t yet been molded by their experiences working with other companies and organizations. If they have, their mold still hasn’t solidly set.
The high reaching / noble advantage of being the first in line to form the professional experiences of young employees hints on influencing change which travels beyond your organization.
The immediate advantages you’d experience in this regard however, would center on the open-mindedness of the people who you employ. They will be more agreeable, willing to try new things, open to new ideas, and will generally perceive the unique quirks of your company / organization as normal happenings.
It’s Less Stressful to Be a Tutor Who Leads Than a Leader Who Orders
Your leadership role with inexperienced workers will inherently be different than the one in which the people you employ are seasoned veterans in the field. You’ll have to do a lot of teaching.
Though you may be turned off by that notion, understand that assuming the role of a tutor may be more pleasant than being required to command those with rigid philosophies.
Those who teach us something we didn’t know tend to earn our trust in the context which that lesson was in.
It is easier to command someone to complete a certain task after we teach them how to do that task. Inexperienced employees thereby, will be willing to follow every step that you lay out for them. Their inexperience will aid them in being an obedient worker. As long as you do a good job of laying down a series of steps required of them to take, you can be sure that they’ll – at least try to – follow them to a T.
An experienced worker on the other hand, may have their own ideas on how to complete a task. They may think they can do it more efficiently and with higher quality if they were to take a differing series of steps. Their experience may suggest they take a shortcut, as precautionary steps may be perceived to be a waste of precious time.
As a leader, you’d need to jump in for a second time and reiterate your commands with such individuals. You’d more often enter contending ideological exchanges with your experienced employees.
That being said, there are many positives to hiring employees who have their own expert knowledge and who are willing to share it. The goal of the text in this section was to simply remind you of the dynamics which would likely be at play. Objectively analyze whether assuming a teaching role with an inexperienced employee will grant you with the control you’re looking for over the product they’ll be working on.
Those Who Take a Chance on Us Garner Our Respect
The inexperienced candidate is likely well aware of their application’s shortcomings. The chances are that they’ve already experienced rejection. They’ve possibly had their resume critiqued, and they’ve received numerous, “Thanks but no thanks,” emails while on their way to landing an interview with you.
Someone in the shoes of an inexperienced job applicant will understand the risks which need to be adopted by those who take a chance on hiring them. They’ll know that you wouldn’t have much to go off while making your decision.
The decision to hire an inexperienced worker thereby, communicates a certain level of faith in their potential. The person you hire will tend to recognize the level of faith you show in them. They’ll be thankful for your recognition of their potential and will adopt a deep desire to show something for it.
We seem to want to repay favors most when people help us out at our most vulnerable points of life. You can take advantage of that desire. Those who take chances on us, especially in the professional world, garner a certain respect from us which is difficult to replicate otherwise.
You can breed dedicated followers in the professional world by simply taking chances on the inexperienced. They will develop a deep desire to impress you for taking a chance on them. They’ll be more likely to abide by your commands, listen to your teachings, and be willing to stick together as a team.