Managing their lifecycles in the organization
T a l e n t Ac q u i s i t i o n
organization should hire an overqualified candidate or not. Given the current employment scenario and the uncertainty, HR leaders must plan and see if they can leverage this talent base. HR needs to determine their motive for working in a particular role before hiring them. Many a time employers have to remember that money isn’t everything to everyone. An employee who is overqualified for a role may choose to work in the role for several personal reasons. For instance, they may want to do a job that is less stressful to just get engaged or because they are less motivated by money or status. HR needs to find out if the candidate is applying to fill the pay gap between jobs or if there is another reason such as benefits, location, or schedule flexibility. HR Manager must follow the formalized behavioral structured interview by incorporating Psychometric/written tests at the time of recruitment to measure candidate fitment.
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The supervisor should assess whether these overqualified employees bring innovativeness and skills to the table. Providing them with challenging roles can ensure they remain enthusiastic and committed to their position. HR can chart out the path and how they can climb the corporate ladder and reach their potential. • Overqualified candidates at an early stage of their career may be given high risks and challenging tasks to fully utilize their knowledge and skills and to keep them engaged throughout. • Employees who are at the later stage of their career may be assigned jobs that provide greater autonomy and flexibility so that they can invest their additional time in leisure, family, or retirement planning activities. In the current situation, by not hiring overqualified job candidates, organizations may miss out on a large, easily available, and potentially low-cost source of highly skilled human capital. By incorporating proper plans and strategies to handle overqualified employees, an organization can build its human capital base that will lead to building a long-term competitive advantage. Nrusingh Prasad Panigrahy is the Joint Manager-HR, Dredging Corporation of India; and Dr. Lalatendu Kesari Jena, Asstt. Professor (OB & HR), School of Human Resource Management, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, India.
