I recently met a candidate who we had placed on a 6 month interim project and it reminded me what a great difference 6 months in the right company can do for inexperienced candidates. I remember when we first met him to interview him for the role we had in mind. Straight out of university with a few internships, he was impressive academically and although clearly capable, lacked confidence and commercial awareness needed to really sparkle in interviews. However, he got the job through his potential and after 6 months on a temporary project where he worked for a small yet dynamic company where he got to get involved in all manner of tasks, he came out the other side a different candidate. He’s sparky, confident, commercially astute and very impressive. It reminded me two things;
1) 6 months work experience can transform graduates from good on paper to excellent in person. And this is especially true in small companies where often fresh graduates are exposed to a range of business activities
2) We shouldn’t overlook candidates who are a little rough around the edges or lacking in experience. Sometimes all they need is 6 months to polish up to become shiny pennies.
Keri Link is an account manager on the FreshMinds Talent Interim Team
