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For decades, businesses have avoided hiring candidates whose experience and abilities surpassed the requirements of the jobs they sought to fill. That hesitation was mostly based on concerns that overqualified recruits would quickly become bored with their work and leave for bigger challenges. But a new survey shows employers are showing more willingess to signing on highly capable applicants , with a clear majority of hiring managers now regularly considering people whose aptitudes overshadow the positions they’re vying for.
That significant shift in hiring attitudes was revealed in a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. human relations executives by staffing solutions company Express Employment Professionals. What it found was that in — stark contrast to deep-rooted reluctance in the past to seriously consider people whose experience surpassed the jobs they’d applied for — 70 percent of hiring managers respondents said they now routinely consider fillings opening with overqualified applicants.
What’s changed? Survey respondents said the additional strengths that overqualified workers offer outweigh the risks that they may get bored and leave faster than less experienced applicants. For example, half of the participants said those more capable prospects bring more confidence to the job than less qualified candidates, with 48 percent saying they’re more productive as well.
About 47 percent of respondents said more experienced hires demonstrate better decision-making abilities than other candidates, and 45 percent appreciated them for needing little or no training to start working at full speed. Better still, 46 percent of participating hiring managers cited the ability of overqualified workers to mentor and support younger or less capable employees as an extra benefit.
But despite that fundamental shift of HR managers’ attitudes about placing people in positions they’re clearly overqualified for, survey participants haven’t rid themselves of all their past reservations.
Significantly, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they still consider overqualified hires likely to bolt for better opportunities that come along. Awaiting that, 75 percent of survey participants said they believed more experienced and skilled hires often struggle to remain motivated once they’d landed and settled into the new job.
For those reasons, 58 percent of respondents said they’re at times still inclined to train a new or less qualified employee for a position, rather than risk higher turnover by picking stronger candidates more likely to get bored and move on.
Job seekers are of mixed minds about the changing views of hiring managers. Younger survey respondents said they fear the shift leaves them at a distinct disadvantage to overqualified candidates. Sixty-seven percent of Gen Zers and 60 percent of Millennial respondents said it’s impossible for them to compete against more experience applicants for the same job.
Those numbers rise to 84 percent of Gen Zers and 77 percent of Millennials who think companies systematically favor overqualified candidates over others. Around 71 percent of both cohorts cited the extra benefits more experienced workers bring to the job as the reasons employers prefer them. Those concerns among Gen X respondents were lower than those younger workers, but still surpassed the 50 percent bar.
But with national job creation nearly flat as companies limit hiring mainly to replacing departing workers, it‘s unrealistic to expect overqualified candidates to steer clear of positions with lower requirements. In fact, even most younger survey respondents who complained of being at a disadvantage to more experienced applicants appear willing to seek a similar upper hand when they’re pursuing employment opportunities in competition with less skilled people.
Eighty-seven percent of all job hunters surveyed said it was entirely appropriate to apply for work they’re overqualified for, with 65 percent saying they’ve already done so. While nearly 60 percent of those respondents said the obligation to generate an income was the main motivator for using that advantage, 56 percent said those jobs also offer better work-life balance. Around 41 percent said those situations allowed them to break into or remain in professions they’re passionate about.
So how should employers still torn between past hesitations to hire overqualified people, but increasingly aware of the qualitative advantages of filling vacancies with skilled candidates in the current labor market react to those changes? Express Employment International president Bob Funk Jr. suggests they remain pragmatic in their hiring decisions, and carefully analyze which candidates can best provide what an individual job and the entire company needs from them.
“Overqualified candidates represent a chance to secure top talent in today’s market,” said Funk in news release announcing the survey’s results. “The key is to focus on skills-based hiring, which widens the talent pool by looking beyond résumés and degrees and makes the best use of a candidate’s abilities and ambition. Without that alignment, the risk of a quick exit is real.”
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Bruce Crumley
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