Experience. Is it important?

As a prospective Human Resources Manager, it is understood how imperative it is to hire and retain the utmost driven, creative, and innovational employees. There is a lot entailed in how to determine and recruit these certain employees who will bring money and success into a corporation. Of course, one conception is to hire the individuals whom have the most experience in the given field or role.

In the article Why We Don’t Usually Look for Experience When We Hire written by Tom Szaky, the exact opposite is presented. He is aware that his views are a bit more unconventional than the typical HR manager, but Szaky is a very smart business owner and his perspectives are quite respectable.

Szaky states that at his company, TerraCycle, they prefer to hire people straight out of college or who have only one or two years of work experience behind them. I think this is a very bold yet intuitive preference, and I would do the same if I were an HR manager. Firstly, this is often the cheaper alternative because senior hires have a much higher financial expectation. More importantly, the younger employee’s possess a willingness to learn new things and adapt to the business, which is extremely beneficial to a company.

It is true that many experienced employees are often more traditional and set in their ways. They have prior training and have convinced themselves of the “best” way to complete certain tasks. Rather, recent college graduates are more accepting of advice and being taught how to most desirably and profitably operate in the given company.

Similarly, recent graduates have a higher passion, motivation, and energy to contribute to the success of a company. This is because it is most likely their first or second opportunity at doing so. Most modern day companies are seeking employees with young, innovational, and creative perspectives. It is probable that these employees will be found in a recent and inexperienced college graduate population, rather than a stubborn and conditioned senior level employee.

Overall, I think that Szaky brings up very interesting and important points. This hiring style is certainly not what the Human Resources textbooks teach, however, if I am ever in a hiring or firing role I will most certainly opt to approach it with the same mentality that Szaky discusses in this article.

https://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/why-we-dont-usually-look-for-experience-when-we-hire/