Qualification or good common skills?

[comrade]

I am job hunting at the moment after a break from work.

 

I have applied for many jobs in academies (as I used to work at an academy for a long time) but they seem very keen on employing people with qualifications, even over common skills and experience. i.e. they will employ someone with no experience at all but who has a degree.

 

I have seen these academies then re-advertise a few months later at it appears those they took on were "no good". An assumption of course.

 

Yet I have had interviews at some very prestigious places and they care much more about your experience, over qualifications.

 

So I have to ask managers on here, would you choose someone based on experience or qualifications?

 

For a technicians job.

[fiza]

Experience wins for me everytime. For interviews we give them a skills based test as well as interview. You have to show that you know what you are doing as well as being good in an interview situation.

[Chuckster]

Unfortunately, in the public sector, your years of experience means diddly squat as opposed to a graduate with a degree but lacks experience and common sense.

 

They insist on particular qualifications before they even consider your job application. Believe me, I know, 'cause my better half has had numerous rejections because of it. However, in the corporate world she is a high-flyer. Schools are very special in the sense that they're inherently stupid and won't forego the 'essential' requirement.

 

Recently we had to let go one of our finance assistant because she couldn't produce one of her maths o-levels that she took in the late 60's. This was someone who was a Barclays bank manager but wanted a career change where it wasn't so much fast paced!

Edited July 7, 2015 by Chuckster

[comrade]

I have had rejections myself, all from academies, yet other types of school will give me an interview, even private schools.

 

If they give an interview and then reject you fair enough, other factors come into play then. But to turn you down at once down due to lack of a qualification is poor game. I would understand for a managers position but for a techie in a school, I can't really see how a lack of a degree is a reason to turn someone down at an early stage.

[JATSO]

I agree with Fiza, even though they maybe able show academically on paper what they can recall, but even a simple task as asking someone to change a toner cartridge (which comes with instructions) sometimes seems to be a challenge to far for some of them.

Giving them a skills test generally sorts them out.

[Duranis]

Not in a position to hire in this job but in my previous job I almost always looked at either experience/knowledge (for high level jobs) or how keen they were (for entry level jobs were they would be doing a lot of training anyway). Qualifications only ever entered the equation when they were a legal requirement.

 

I have more than once taken someone with less qualifications and sometimes with less experience (on paper) because in talking to them they had a better understanding of the business or were more enthusiastic. Most of the time these people worked out really well for us.

 

I think the problem you are seeing is quite often the people interviewing for a job might not actually know that much about it. Because of this they have no way to judge if what you are talking about is relevant to the role. Judging candidates by their qualifications makes it easier (i.e. "This guy has a degree in IT so he for sure must know something").

[pcstru]

I'd say it's just not that simple. There does come a point where experience should be able to stand in for a qualification (at the level of a degree) but at the same time the degree shows that a candidate has a certain amount of self drive that experience may not have required/developed. So you might find someone who has good experience but needs a lot of supervision/managing or someone with a degree who can think for themselves but is unable to get on with people or even turn up for work on time. So would I choose someone based on either or, no, I'd be looking at (a lot) more than just qualifications vs experience.

[MattDLEA]

I had a college student with me that was getting distinctions in his IT at college... both hardware and software.

Yet he could not set up a new computer ( im talking about taking it out of the box and putting the cables in the right place. He also didnt know how to use Google to look things up.

[pcstru]

They insist on particular qualifications before they even consider your job application. Believe me, I know, 'cause my better half has had numerous rejections because of it. However, in the corporate world she is a high-flyer. Schools are very special in the sense that they're inherently stupid and won't forego the 'essential' requirement.

If you advertise a role and you list "degree" as an essential qualification, then you must reject applications who do not meet that. If you don't then you open yourself up to accusations of unfair discrimination which you won't be able to defend because your recruitment process is flawed.

 

(NB, I'm not saying putting a degree as Essential is sensible or not, just that if you do put it as essential, then you must treat it as ... essential).

[rich_tech]

I think you will find a lot of places specify for professional qualifications these days in IT to get good wage jobs outside of entry level stuff, I see a lot of them wanting MCSE/A/MCITP CCNA/CompTIA/VCP as "desirable" though you will get people who look at your CVs which I think is better, as experience is a better indicator and working in majority of schools it seems that we have access to the technology at the cutting edge, with things like EES agreements but its a case of not massive amounts of professional development being offered, especially as the courses cost a fair bit of money and your already proving your working with the technology to your employers (not always the case I agree).

[comrade]

I had a college student with me that was getting distinctions in his IT at college... both hardware and software.

Yet he could not set up a new computer ( im talking about taking it out of the box and putting the cables in the right place. He also didnt know how to use Google to look things up.

 

Maybe its today's youth. I started out at a company and worked there for three years, they used to take people straight from school providing you had a GCE in IT. I don't think I ever saw anyone as bad as this. We had lazy people and they did not last long.

 

I cannot fathom how someone could not be capable of setting up a computer out of its box.

[X-13]

He also didnt know how to use Google to look things up.

 

Wut.

 

How is that even possible?!

[mikeprice]

I have no formal qualifications - there wasn't even a computer in my school (it was a long time ago) but have been working with computer in some respect since 1981.

 

I applied to loads of different school, colleges etc and got a lot of silence until I managed to get a few temporary jobs through agencies (Hays, Capita etc etc ) which gave me recent specific experience and excellent references.

After that I started to get interviews

However - I still got rejections based on others having better paperwork. Eventually I got anotehr temporatry job that has become permanent once they realised that I can do the job

 

I would suggest that you just keep plugging away until you fidn someone with some concept of experience and references being more use than paper qualifications

 

In the meantime getting tempory job helped me by getting my c.v. looking better and bringing some money in

[Sagima]

Skills and experience are more important to us than qualifications in the most part although our last hire almost missed out when the HR manager questioned whether we should really hire someone with only a D in maths. In every other sense he was the better candidate but we needed a 15 minute meeting to get him. turns out his maths is fine for the job but his spelling is atrocious

[witch]

Skills and Expertise definitely the most important thing on your CV - which is why I write CVs the way I do...it often circumnavigates the need for formal qualifications as the recruiter's eye is hit by all this technical wonderment!

Want to know more?

 

Pm for help

[mthomas08]

Experience wins for me everytime. For interviews we give them a skills based test as well as interview. You have to show that you know what you are doing as well as being good in an interview situation.

 

Likewise but there are other things I personally don't like:

- Too ambitious

- Lacking experience but showing arrogance

 

I like confidence I really do but I absolutely hate arrogance (usually I can spot it too and accurately!). I don't want to be having to watch my back so the technician can plunge a knife in my back to get my job. The job it self (School IT Support) is my priority above their own ambition but I will endeavour to Support their own development.

 

As for the experience, fresh out of University Students are good don't get me wrong but it is a different ball game when heading to IT Support especially in education. The ticket system is not the only way people will come find you and you can't plan the days work every day. Some one able to work on their feet is always the cherry on the cake while still being professional and being polite.

 

Although in Business's they will tend to over look qualifications, some of them are open to experience first (at least a few did in my time).

[ITGURU]

Skills and experience is top of the list for when I employ. We always have a series of common practical tasks at interviews to see what they know. was surprised to have one candidate who couldn't make a network cable because they always bought pre-made patch leads!

 

As long as can work on own initiative and can solve problems then come to me if they need additional help, then they are a winner.

[aleach2]

I believe they are both important. I have a degree and I have lots of experience. I would never not hire someone because they didn't have a degree buy again I would never hire someone just on their experience. They have to fit the workplace (personality wise) and strike the correct balance of experience and qualifications. Edited July 7, 2015 by aleach2

[X-13]

you can't plan the days work every day

 

I've been working in IT in education for 8 years... I've yet to be able to accurately predict a single day's work.

[comrade]

They have to fit the workplace (personality wise) and strike the correct balance of experience and qualifications.

 

I think as you say a good balance, it depends also on the person. But I know managers without a single qualification and who run large networks across multiple sites, they have never had any issue and don't need contractors to do any work, as I have seen in some schools. I have also on the other hand heard horror stories, of whole networks being broken and all being lost, by people apparently with all the qualifications in the world, costing £400 an hour. No doubt it has happened the other way around.

 

I have actually turned a job down many years ago because I did not like the feel of the people or the place, so personality is also important, not that I have much of it.

Edited July 7, 2015 by comrade

[comrade]

one candidate who couldn't make a network cable because they always bought pre-made patch leads!

 

 

You gave him cat 6 didn't you.

Edited July 7, 2015 by comrade

[aleach2]

Skills and experience is top of the list for when I employ. We always have a series of common practical tasks at interviews to see what they know. was surprised to have one candidate who couldn't make a network cable because they always bought pre-made patch leads!

 

As long as can work on own initiative and can solve problems then come to me if they need additional help, then they are a winner.

 

TBH I would struggle. I have made load of cables in the past but couldn't think of the way the cores go now of the top of my head. I would need a diagram. I would just buy patch leads unless there is a specific need to have one a custom length.