Experience versus education is the subject of a lot of debate in the business world. On one hand, education is a sure indicator of a person being committed to their field since they have invested significant time, effort, and money in acquiring formal certifications and diplomas. Indeed, it is usually illegal to practice in certain professions-, without the relevant qualifications.
In the business world, however, a formal degree or diploma can often be outweighed by real-world experience. When a business recruits veterans, the range of experience a candidate may possess can be vastly different from that of a civilian candidate. The manner by which an employer’s veteran recruiting process assigns value to education and experience can have a huge impact on the successful outcome of their hiring efforts.
What Do Employers Value More?
Should employers pay more attention to candidates’ education and academic accomplishments or to their experience? This can be dependent upon a number of variables, including the employer, the nature of the role, the candidate’s ability, and the recruitment process as a whole. In most cases, employers assign value to both education and experience, and this is no different when recruiting vets or even hiring military spouses.
Education and experience complement each other in the business world in many ways. A candidate with higher education will still need experience before they can start reaping the full benefits of their professional careers. Likewise, an experienced worker without a degree will usually raise a few eyebrows. In other words, veteran workers need to focus on acquiring both education and experience to become more appealing candidates.
Do Employers Hire Vets Without College Degrees?
As far as most employers are concerned, education and experience are both valuable. However, they can often be flexible on one of these, but rarely both. If a candidate pulled from your tech talent pipeline manages to demonstrate acumen and expertise for a specific role, such a candidate should ideally be hired. A lack of a formal degree poses a non-negotiable between you and a potentially-leadership-material hire.
For the same role, consider a veteran candidate that has likely worked with much more sophisticated equipment and programs than the ones that are available to the general public. Such a candidate could be far better qualified for information security or network security roles than a comparable civilian candidate. As before, a lack of a formal degree should not mean you turn down such a promising candidate that could add significant value to your business. A sympathetic and progressive employer should be more inclined to focus on this value rather than the one indicated by a degree.
The Best Course of Action for Veteran Candidates
The increase in veteran unemployment stats in 2020 exemplifies how veteran workers make up a significant part of the total American workforce. With hundreds of thousands of veterans retiring from service every year, employers need to do their part in absorbing the incoming talent. If you have a veteran hiring program you may want to review it to make sure you aren’t turning away high-quality veteran candidates simply because they don’t check the college education box on your recruitment form.
However, veterans should strive to become more appealing candidates in terms of education. Obviously, not everyone has to acquire a college degree to land an interview, but in many cases, especially where bulk-hiring is involved, a formal diploma or certification could help boost your resume and make it stand out from all the other applicants. There are certifications available that are often consistent with a veteran candidate’s own line of experience. From technical courses to skill development, coupled with a candidate’s own repertoire of skills and experience, there is no reason a veteran candidate can’t perform as well (if not better) than most other comparable candidates.
Conclusion
With some support from employed veterans and veteran support programs all over the country, new veteran candidates already have many avenues for guidance and acclimatization. With a large number of American employers open to recruiting veterans, all that’s needed is to acquire some formal qualifications and leverage those along with your experience for successful interview outcomes.