Education vs experience: What should employers be targeting?

Education and experience are at the heart of every recruitment process.

Job candidates face the dilemma of whether to pursue higher education after graduating or to apply for a job and get the field experience instead.

Similarly, employers are also faced with an important decision to make: should they be prioritising more educated candidates over ones who have more experience?

Given the tight labour market that businesses have had to contend with, this becomes an even greater challenge, with organisations’ options becoming more limited than ever before.

Jessica Schembri, Recruitment Specialist at Konnekt Malta, explored this dilemma on Monday, pitting the two factors against each other, stating that the interplay between the two is “pivotal”.

“While education provides a solid foundation and theoretical knowledge, experience offers practical insights and a deeper understanding of the industry,” she noted.

In the past, having the right qualifications, degrees, and other educational backgrounds was deemed as the way into a particular industry. However, this has changed over the years, especially with more business leaders seeking individuals who are knowledgeable about a particular field.

However, in truth, both elements are “complementary” and thus should be considered “in tandem”, Ms Schembri said.

In recent months, various business leaders have urged policymakers and educational institutions to introduce more means of experiential learning, the process of learning by doing. Similarly, Malta College of Arts, Science, and Technology (MCAST) CEO and Principal Joachim James Calleja has called upon businesses to become more open to accepting students for apprenticeship programmes, thus boosting work-based learning.

“Education can bridge knowledge gaps and provide credibility, but real-world experience often translates theory into practical application,” Ms Schembri explained.

Establishing the right balance between education and experience can enable individuals to “adapt, innovate, and excel” in their new job or field, thus making a “compelling case for the symbiotic relationship between education and experience in career transitions”.