News And Advice

Insights, tips and news for job seekers and employers.

Should You Consider Overqualified Candidates?

When you are hiring and get a lot of resumes from job candidates, you will invariably find that some applicants are overqualified for open positions. While this may seem like a good thing at first, there are some downsides to hiring overqualified candidates. This doesn’t mean you should never bring on someone who has more experience and skills than the position would require, but it does mean you should go into this decision with your eyes open and with an awareness of the pros and cons.

When deciding whether you should disregard job candidates who seem overqualified or bring them on board, some of the key things to consider include:

  • What is the likelihood the employee is going to leave soon? The big concern about hiring an overqualified candidate is they are just taking the position at your company until something better comes along. Carefully consider the likelihood of this happening.  Thinking about why the candidate might be applying is a good way to get a better idea of whether they are likely to move on or not. For example, a senior who is overqualified may just be looking for work to fill the time during retirement; or a parent may be looking for a position they could do while working around their child’s schedule. In these scenarios, it is far less likely the employee would just leave.
  • What is the training and investment involved? If your company is going to spend a lot of time and money training someone, you may want to think twice about hiring a candidate who is overqualified. If there’s little initial investment in the employee needed, it may not matter if they depart soon after you hire them. You may as well bring on the overqualified person in this case.
  • Do you have opportunities to provide advancement? If you can bring on someone who is overqualified but offer them the chance to move into a better position if it works out, it may make sense to get them in the door and see if they would be a good fit to move up.

Deciding whether to bring on an overqualified candidate or not is something that must be done on a case-by-case basis. The good news is, staffing professionals can help with your hiring process and ensure you can find qualified candidates with just the right level of experience. High Profile helps many companies with hiring in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas, so give us a call at 972-991-7900 or contact us online to learn how we can assist you.

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