Which weighs more, qualification or work experience?

It’s an age old question, what matters most to recruiters or companies? Experience or qualification? We spoke to a few people around the office to get their experiences as a guide. We found that there are industries that prefer that a potential candidate have the relevant experience in the field of work, while others prefer qualifications. With that being said, people are often faced with a decision to follow one path over the other at the end of school. And more often than not, the decision is made for them when there is no means to study further. There are however people who make the choice to work immediately after school because they don’t believe in studying further, or need a gap year after 12 years of school.?

Now the reality of this path is that you will most likely have to start at the bottom, for a lack of a better word, and work your way up. It is highly unlikely to get a skilled position without a qualification. You may have to settle for any job that pays the bills. It may not seem like much, but we found that there is value in entry-level jobs. From working, people gained transferable or soft skills such as communication, time keeping, working in a team, among others. As an experienced worker, you tend to be more realistic about work environments. Making you a desirable candidate for companies. According to Cornerstone, companies benefit from hiring internally to save on costs and speed up the recruitment process - it’s also easy to obtain performance records, not to mention that the employee is already familiar with the company culture. So from people’s experience, once they are already in the job market, it becomes easier to navigate where they want to go.?

This is not to rule out qualifications because they also have their advantages. From our research, qualified people are likely to start at mid-level or skilled positions. Depending on the industry, this possibly means a better salary. A qualification also gives them the flexibility to apply at different companies. Qualified employees come in skilled in the said field of work which means that less on-the-job training is required. The one common struggle with qualified job seekers is getting their foot through the door due to their qualification and no real life experience of the work environment. They come into the job market suitable for a mid-level position which tends to have more responsibilities. Hence the scepticism from companies to entrust that with someone with no track record. Not every company will shut their door in your face - so once you get past this hurdle as a qualified person, navigating your career should be fairly easier.?

The take away from this research is, whether circumstantial or intentional, having work experience, or a qualification, or both is beneficial. You can get far in your career on either one. Both have their challenges at the beginning. If you preserve, you can be successful regardless of the path you choose.?