Hidden Hiring Asset: Overqualified Talent?

With a seriously high unemployment rate, there is a flux of overqualified individuals applying for jobs below their skill levels and education. In February, 2011, author Ladan Mikravan’s article was posted on TalentManagement.com‘s website, discussing how these overqualified workers could be a great asset. Normally hiring overqualified workers is avoided. Finding the right spot for overqualified employees is crucial to their success within your organization.

A wealth of talent is currently available to talent managers, and ripe for the picking they are! The key will be to properly foresee where these workers will be able to develop their roles. Employees desire a challenge, and will demand that in order to stay. Keep in mind that an employee’s values and culture must match the organization’s or it’s a false match from the get-go.

Over-qualification can also mean a lot of experience. Imagine what that employee can bring to your organization’s table!

“Companies need to be open to other ways of doing things,” said Audrey Tillman, executive vice president of corporate services at Aflac Inc. “Overqualified employees bring new and valuable ideas to organizations, and managers should want to hear from them. Someone who has proved talented, experienced, hard-working, energetic, and has aspirations is very beneficial to a company. Even though we’re tightening out belts, we still want to give employees opportunities to stretch and grow outside day-to-day work.”

Honesty in hiring an overqualified individual is key. Don’t hype up a position just so your scheme to keep them around as future top-talent can be executed. They deserve to know that there is a future but that the present position isn’t as dazzling as you could make it sound. Let everyone maintain the same expectations of what the current roles are.

Problems arise in the employer-employee relationship when expectations do not become realities. In order to ensure ongoing commitment well after the employee gets situated, companies are using new-hire surveys to assess new employees’ level of satisfaction.

With employee turnover becoming a larger problem in the workplace, it’s important to maintain an open line of communication with your employees. This will help to ensure your employee’s success and satisfaction within the organization. To read more about hiring overqualified talent, you can read the full disclosure here.

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