Over the years, scholars and recruiters have had this debate for years. The question is whose side are you?
However, did you know that this was not always the case? A long time ago, people believed qualification was important. This is why people often enrolled in universities (this is why today there are prestigious universities such as Oxford Universities, University of Bologna, University of Salamanca, and others).
However, since the beginning of the 20th century; people began to prioritize experience. That is because many university graduates are not prepared for the workplace. Moreover, companies are not willing to spend time, money, and effort to allow a university graduate to gain experience. This is primarily due to the competitive nature of the market today.
With these summaries, which one is important? Is work experience more important since employers prioritize it, or qualification is the highlight for making the best candidate? Let’s dive into each in detail: –
Is Qualification More Important?
Qualification is important still because requites will often write job advertisements that specify a specific qualification such as degree, diploma, and so on. For this reason, since the market decides the qualification when it comes to recruitment, this means that qualification is still important. Let’s not forget that today more jobs demand mental strength compared to manual skills.
Qualification is the beginning of working life. Experience is supposed to move you ahead of other competitors. This means that with experience you will increasingly have access to opportunities for further developments.
For example, comparing like for like; assuming that there are two 21-year-olds with equal intelligence, but one is graduated and the other has industry experience – In this case, I will give due to experience. Just because one is not qualified, it does not switch intelligence off. On the other hand, having injury experience is not everything because you need knowledge about that particular experience.
Is Work Experience More Important?
A person who has some relevant industry qualifications and 3-year worth of experience is more valuable to a company compared to a newly qualified University graduate. With this information, do you think you would be in stronger places by spending 3 years starting a career and having earned at least £30,000 or spending your time learning about the subject and having limited practical experience and maybe building up large debts?
Remember, we are living in a highly competitive world. This means that businesses are always looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition. As such, a company would rather find someone who has gained industrial experience rather than spending their time and money training a university graduate.
In the past, a degree qualification used to be a major deciding factor in whom got a job and the position they held (including the salary they would be paid). But this is not the case anymore. That is because the number of people who have gained degrees a lot and the number is continuously growing each year. This means that employers are no longer impressed with qualifications but the experience you have gained.
In fact, a majority of jobs you get will refer to educational and qualifications requirements, which is often referred to as ‘beneficial’ or ‘ideal’, but not essential. This is why we are seeing an increase in apprenticeships in different sectors and workplace learning. If you are within Brighton or the surrounding area, and you are looking for employment I would recommend google searching recruitment agencies Brighton.
Conclusion
Well, for you to make it in today’s employment and competitive world, you need a good combination of the two. You cannot gain experience in an industry without knowledge, nor can you get a job without experience.