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How many time have you made that employee in your organization to under perform? Yes, this must have happened, not deliberately, but because of a myth that might have engulfed you, as with most of the managers – the experience myth.
The experience myth is one of the commonest form of myths that takes away much of the productivity of your valuable employees, even without much notice to it. You require smart, capable employees with you, who may add value to your organization, make your organizations outperform your competitors. So, you place ads for experienced and talented breeds of those people, while mentioning it very prominently - “Freshers need not apply” or at some other times, something similar. Even at other times, when those less experienced move ahead to appear at the interviews, your “experience” screening, quietly puts them off. How many time have you avoided the best of talents this way?
Many times, with such an experience screening, those young, smart talents are denied their most apt position. Often, such unfortunate less experienced candidates may be just lacking those formal industry experience, while they may be having a good hands-on experience that they have acquired during their academic studies as they went beyond their courses to understand those much needed industry experience. Sometimes, even worse happen to these unfortunates where their expertise on the subject and the extra-curricular knowledge won't show up in his academic report. Effectively, this genius student may be far better off than his fellow students who might have scored much above him. Even for other, they may have acquired those much needed experience while they were doing a job hunt, that they simply cannot put onto their CV. While this may be more applicable to knowledge workers, consider if this is true even for the others.
Now an industry fresher like this is not given a chance for a job, or a position befitting him because he is “fresher”. Just realize that he is just industry fresher, not fresher on the subjects of his study.
The, story doesn't end up here. Again down the career path, the same story holds true even when he climbs the "experience ladder". There are positions and tasks meant for people with x-years of industry experience. No matter how competent the employee is, he is not given that position or task, not even tried once. In effect, such down casted employees are performing tasks much below their capacities. The one who is capable of making strategic technical or business decision is made follow such decision from those “experienced” guys higher up. Sometimes, this has a serious side-effect. The employee recognizes the inferior leadership above him, that may frustrate him leading to further decline in employee output.
Has your organization been struck with this experience myth? Has it eaten away much of the productivity and talent pool that you have always wanted? Then, follow these simple remedies:
