You want the best for your company, including a top-notch team of employees. But it may be time to relax your requirements if you have difficulty finding candidates who check all your boxes. After all, the perfect employee doesn’t exist. And even if someone looks great on paper, they may not be the right fit for your team. Consider shifting your focus to candidates’ potential rather than their resumes.
If this feels like a gamble to you, check out these five reasons to hire underqualified healthcare candidates:
1. It’s not really about qualifications.
A Leadership IQ Study of 20,000 employees found that only 11 percent of new workers fail due to a lack of functional/technical skills. Their success wasn’t dependent on qualifications but rather on their attitude, motivation, temperament, and emotional intelligence. If you can find someone strong in these areas, chances are they’ll excel even if they don’t have much experience.
2. Young workers are the majority.
According to US Census Data, about 1 million millennials enter the workforce annually. By 2020, nearly 40% of the workforce will be millennials. In other words, the candidate pool is getting younger and, as a result, less experienced. That means employers don’t have the same selection of seasoned candidates they used to. Companies will need to loosen their qualification requirements to keep up with this changing workforce.
3. They’re less expensive.
When they’re first hired, you can pay underqualified staff less because of their lack of experience. This also helps offset the cost of any training they’ll need. Over time, you can increase their pay once they’re up to speed. But it’s an intelligent short-term way to save your company money.
4. You save time and energy.
Hiring employees can be a significant drag on your time and resources. It takes a ton of work to sift through applications, schedule multiple interviews, and run all the background checks necessary to verify workers. Hiring underqualified healthcare candidates makes the process a bit less of a hassle since you can find the right candidate sooner rather than waiting months (or years) for a more seasoned applicant to pop up.
5. They may be more loyal.
When you take a chance on an underqualified applicant, you’re telling them that you believe in them – and they’ll remember it. These employees will be grateful for the opportunity and, most likely, work that much harder to prove their value. They’re also more likely to stay at your company, making it easy for you to retain top talent.
Are You Looking for Healthcare Workers?
AMEA Healthcare can help you find suitable candidates for your team. Request talent today.
