The Pros And Cons of Hiring an Overqualified Candidate

Interviewing candidates for open positions at your company can be very stressful. You need to sift through resumes, cover letters and applications prior to deciding which candidates to schedule for interviews. During this process, you may come across a candidate who is overqualified for the job being filled at the company. What should you do next? We will discuss the pros and cons of hiring a candidate who is overqualified for the position you are looking to fill.

The Pros of Hiring an Overqualified Candidate

We will discuss the pros of hiring an overqualified candidate in this first section. Some of the most common positives include ability, value and contributions.

When you hire someone who is more than qualified, you will be getting someone who will not require much time when it comes to training or learning the responsibilities of the position. This means that the learning curve will be very low or non-existent.

The next positive deals with value. An overqualified candidate will provide your company with value because you are getting a lot more bang for your buck compared to hiring someone with fewer qualifications.

An overqualified candidate will be able to bring a lot to the table in terms of contributions because of all the places they have been in their career and the things they have seen. This means that they will be able to relay some of what they have learned to their co-workers, providing major contributions to the company.

The Cons of Hiring an Overqualified Candidate

In this section, we will discuss the negatives to hiring an overqualified candidate for the job available at your company. Some of the most common negatives include having an attitude, a lack of value and quick turnover.

The first of these negatives is hiring an employee who comes to work with an attitude more often than not. Some of these employees might come to work with an attitude because they feel as though they are taking a step backwards in their career. This will impact the office negatively, bringing down the culture of your workforce.

An overqualified employee might ask for pay that is less than what they typically earn, but could be higher than what your company is used to paying for this position. It is important for an employer to carefully consider what they are able to pay this employee – if you underpay them, they are more likely to move on from the position quickly.

When you hire an overqualified candidate, you are at risk of dealing with high turnover because the candidate may not be fully satisfied with their work, position or pay. It is essential to discuss these possibilities with the candidate before making a hiring decision to ensure that moving forward with an offer is truly in the best interest of both the company and the potential employee.

Contact the experienced Renton recruiting and hiring professionals at SmartTalent today to discuss the best hiring practices for your company when it comes to dealing with overqualified candidates.