It’s a frustrating roadblock for a hiring manager: A candidate almost fits the bill perfectly, and they would be a great culture fit with your team, but they fall just short of the experience you were hoping for. What do you do? Hire the candidate and hope for the best? Or put off hiring someone and look for the next best candidate, potentially missing out on a great hire?
Here’s what to do when you have a candidate with not enough experience:
Train them.
If your company has the ability, workforce, and time, consider training the candidate to get them up to speed. If the candidate checks off every other box, it may be worth the investment. That way, you spend a few weeks training the new candidate so that they can learn the ropes, and then you have a qualified candidate who can serve your company well in the future. Before writing the candidate off completely, ask yourself: Is it worth investing the time, effort, and money to train them? Or is it smarter to cut your losses? That will depend on your particular circumstances, but investing in your team is seldom a bad idea.
Consider an adjusted role.
Another option when you have a candidate with not enough experience is adjusting the role to fit. Perhaps you can take away certain tasks or responsibilities and pass them off to other more experienced team members for the time being. Maybe you can adjust the role slightly to give the new candidate time to learn the processes they need to succeed. Being flexible in this manner is a good way to hire the candidates you really want, even if they don’t have the precise experience you’re looking for. They can get started in the role and become a part of your team and then grow the necessary experience from there. Again, it’s all about investing in your people.
Set up a mentorship.
Aside from formal training, having the new candidate shadow a more experienced team member or enter a mentorship are other good ways to mitigate that lack of experience. Learning from those who know what they’re doing is always a good thing. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your new candidate will get up to speed, even if they don’t have experience in a particular area, when they work closely with someone who does have that experience.
Need to staff your business with the top talent in your area? That’s where we come in. Get in touch with the staffing professionals at High Profile Staffing by contacting us today.
