You think experience counts? Singaporean qualifications, round two

Recently reading “Singaporean qualifications don’t mean a thing without experience” I was provoked to write in defence of all those who are qualified and are applying for jobs throughout the island.

While experience is an important element of any capability, do employers really believe that people who do not have paper experience are unable to do as a good a job as those who are experienced, and potentially become even better? Surely hiring officers are not that naïve.

While I am absolutely over-generalising and there are those who despite their qualification will be unable to do the  job, my point remains – the qualification is a stepping stone and a certificate of the capability and ambition to do good job.

“I recently hired three people and during the recruitment process I was inundated with people who had loads of qualifications but no experience. They all went in the bin un-replied.”

While I absolutely agree that Singaporean parents focus on accolades verges on being an unhealthy obsession, it does not change the point that employers who act in this equally arrogant way are contributing to the problem of lack of experience. How does one exactly get experience if they are not hired?

So in response to “What makes you think that because you have an MBA that you can do the job requiring specific and extensive marketing experience?” what makes you think they can’t? You would be surprised what a qualified person may find easy.

Thus, the message needs to be two-way. Yes, it is important to gain experience and not have a big head that you’re ‘the shit’ just because you have a few more letters behind/before your name. However, employers need to poke their head out of the ivory tower and realise there isn’t a pre-defined employee formula.