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- Delaney Sawyer via Fast Company
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- Business·5 min to read
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Manager Rejects Top Candidate Over Software Skill, Leaves Role Unfilled
ReManager Rejects Top Candidate Over Software Skill, Leaves Role Unfilled
A hiring manager turned down a highly qualified recruiting candidate because he lacked recent experience with a specific applicant tracking system, a decision that left the position open for weeks and highlights a costly tendency to overvalue easily learned software skills.
A hiring manager rejected a top candidate for a recruiting role because he lacked recent experience with the company's applicant tracking system, a decision that left the position unfilled for weeks and exposed a costly flaw in how many employers weigh trainable software skills against hard-won experience.
Bryan Creely, a former recruiter and now co-founder and CEO of Soor, shared the experience of applying for a job he was highly qualified for. The recruiter told him he was an excellent fit and had everything the company was looking for. «You've got great recruiting experience, led and mentored teams, and worked directly with executives,» the recruiter said. «We need someone who can develop our inexperienced recruiters.»
But Creely did not get the job. When he asked for feedback, the recruiter explained that the hiring manager was surprised too, but said Creely didn't have recent experience with the company's applicant tracking system software. Creely clarified his experience and pointed out that learning the user interface would take only a few weeks at most. The recruiter agreed but said the manager had made up her mind.
There was no other candidate who had both Creely's skills and the relevant applicant tracking system experience. The job stayed unfilled for weeks, and possibly longer, as the company continued its search.
The episode illustrates a common hiring mistake: mistaking skills for experience. Employers understandably want candidates who can jump right into the job, but not all skills deserve equal weight. Creely already had the difficult experience under his belt—leading teams, mentoring recruiters, and working with executives. He simply didn't know how to use one particular applicant tracking system.
Most applicant tracking systems are designed for end users to learn rapidly, and despite what sales teams may claim, there is significant overlap between them. Creely summed up the problem: «Some hiring managers would rather spend eight months recruiting a role than one month training someone.»
Some capabilities can only be learned through experience. Managing large teams, working with difficult clients, or developing five-year marketing plans cannot be mastered by reading a book or attending a training class. Those skills take time and practice. If a role requires them, screening for experience makes sense. But many other skills, including most end-user software, can be learned through books and training classes.
Training is also far cheaper than many companies assume. Creely provides training for HR professionals, and many of his clients pay out of their own pockets because their employers don't value training. In Creely's case, intensive training would likely have cost the company at most a couple thousand dollars. More likely, as an experienced recruiter who had used other applicant tracking systems, he would have needed only a couple of hours of someone sitting beside him to show him the ropes.
Even more expensive training can still deliver a strong return on investment. Finding a candidate who has used every piece of software a company uses can take months. Every day a position remains unfilled means lost productivity and increased burnout for current employees who fill the gaps. Every interview takes time that could be spent on revenue-generating tasks.
There is a risk that a trained employee will quit and join a competitor. But the same risk applies to the fabulous candidate a company passes up. Creely suggests asking a simple question: «How would I feel if my competitor hired this person instead of me?» If that idea is unpleasant, training is likely worth it.
Creely has trained thousands of people over his career and says almost everyone can master the material. Companies should not push aside a strong candidate when a few thousand dollars of training could turn them into a best employee.
