Why Employee Expertise Trumps Skills on a Resume
As an employer, you’re looking for someone with the right skills to take on a job or role. Typically, you’d rely on a resume to assess a candidate’s qualifications. However, what if you found out that a candidate with the best skills may not be the best fit for the job? Instead, someone with less skill but more expertise may be the better choice. In this article, we’ll explore why employee expertise is more valuable than technical skills listed on a resume.
Expertise vs Skills
Expertise and skills are two different things, although they are often used interchangeably. Skills are specific abilities that you can learn through practice and honing. They are usually acquired through training, education, or experience. On the other hand, expertise is the result of long-term exposure to a particular subject matter, area, or industry. Expertise is gained through practical application of skills and sustained exposure to complex, real-world situations.
Why Employee Expertise is Important
Expertise allows employees to navigate complex situations, solve problems, innovate, and communicate effectively. It enables them to respond to unscripted challenges that technical skills alone cannot address. Employees with expertise can provide valuable insights into a job or role that no amount of training or experience can provide.
Moreover, expertise can also drive innovation and growth within an organization. Experienced employees are more likely to come up with new ideas, suggest new solutions, and identify opportunities for improvement. They are more effective at identifying patterns and relationships between seemingly unrelated events and phenomena.
Examples of Employee Expertise
Let’s take a look at a few examples of how employee expertise can outperform technical skills.
Imagine you’re hiring a web developer. Candidate A has a degree in computer science and has been programming for ten years. Candidate B has been programming for six years but has developed expertise in front-end web development. Candidate B has experience in understanding user needs, design thinking, and visual design. In this case, Candidate B could prove to be a better fit since they have the expertise required to put out a successful end product.
Another example would be in a data analyst role. Candidate A has a degree in mathematics and experience working with databases. Candidate B, on the other hand, has expertise in using data visualization techniques to communicate insights with stakeholders. While both candidates have valuable skills, Candidate B may prove to be a more effective analyst since they have gained that expertise.
Conclusion
When selecting candidates for a job or role, expertise should be evaluated alongside the listed skills on their resume. Technical skills can be taught and developed, but expertise is gained through experience that allows one to understand and navigate complex situations in a specific field or industry. Employee expertise can enable an organization to innovate, grow, and thrive while fulfilling its mission.
