A professional team is the core of any company and one of the main criteria of its success. Each team member has an invaluable contribution to the company’s development. Knowledge and professional skills of an employee are regarded as intangible resources acquiring systematic progress and practice. Most of the large organizations invest resources in the development and improvement of professional knowledge of working teams, organizing regular corporate learning courses.

The correlation between education, knowledge, and practice is the key to professional growth. Still, which one is primary? Does the candidate with education and no experience have chances to get a job? Armenia’s recruiting system, just like any other aspect, has its specifics. About ten years ago the situation was quite inextricable for candidates. The graduates had education and knowledge but no experience. The employer required knowledge and practice; with no practice, the candidate almost had no chance to be hired. The situation had thus led to a “vicious circle”: no practice - no job, no job - no practice. Fortunately, much has changed in the past ten years. With the development of the IT sphere, the companies started practicing internships, thus the graduates had mostly equal chances with experienced candidates. The corporate strategy of recruiting is the top mechanism to function perfectly. To find out those strategies of local companies applying for recruiting, the role of education and practice, we have four representatives of Armenian companies to share their thoughts.

Arara Tour, Executive Director Nune Tatunts

Nune Tatunts, the executive director of Arara Tour, knows like no one else the recruiting process, the strategies, intra-corporate relationships, and the values of the company. She is leading a team of 18 members who have proved their professionalism by achieving great results and recognition in the tourism field of Armenia, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

The practice in the tourism industry does require professional knowledge and experience. Much depends on the ability to communicate with the clients - this skill is mostly acquired through practice. Nune is sharing her thoughts about the topic:

“Education is always a priority for recruiting. We also pay great attention to potential, the ability to be open to new knowledge, and a great desire to learn and acquire new skills. There are always opportunities for professional growth in our organization. Through regular corporate training courses organized for the team members, we try to keep the level of knowledge and skills and strive for new skills to be acquired. Any working process is thoroughly monitored. The skill and knowledge gaps are quickly detected, and, as soon as we notice a shortcoming, we try to find systemic solutions. Thus we try to create a beneficial environment for the professional growth of the employee. The recruitment is mostly based on candidates’ knowledge. We do not pay attention to experience much because more often it has a negative impact on the future working process. The previous company's work style may not suit us, and the employee has a hard time giving up work habits.

During the interview, we pay attention not only to the knowledge of the candidate but also to the soft skills like communication skills, creative thinking, emotional intellect, etc. Those candidates, who are easy-going, self-confident, and the best fit for our team, definitely have a priority for us.

We are aware of the misconception about the graduates with no experience. We have not once hired graduates. Moreover, we keep in touch with the tourism departments of educational institutions to find new talents, and for Arara Tour it has become a common practice. In these terms and to stop the problem of priorities (education vs experience), the educational institutions should start working closely with the business community to understand the needs of the labor market. Such events may lay the foundation for further cooperation. We may one day start practicing internships but Arara Tour is now more interested in hiring an inexperienced graduate, rather than offering the internship.

When it comes to giving priorities either to education or experience, education may be replaced by experience. We have valuable employees whose education has nothing to do with tourism. They have gained experience, necessary skills, and knowledge and by constantly improving their skills, they have already reached such a level that they have become a valuable asset for any incoming travel agency. The risk of having professional employees is the fact that many companies try to win over them by offering higher salaries, in other words, to do headhunting. But if the organization is innovative, provides a healthy working environment and professional growth, there are fewer chances of losing an employee.”

ProDigi, Ceo & Co-Founder Aida Vopyan

IT sphere has always been the most innovative and bold one to try every new tool in business strategies and working processes. The ProDigi team, counting 26 professionals and headed by Aida Vopyan, has leading-edge thinking and is always looking for new creative solutions. It is quite interesting and informative to learn the insights of ProDigi recruiting and their priorities when choosing candidates.

“Taking into account the specifics of the digital marketing sector and the fact that it is a relatively new field in Armenia, the labor market is not yet fully formed in terms of staff selection, education, and experience. Education plays a huge role, and we do pay attention to it for staff selection.

The subject of graduates with no experience relates to digital marketing, and we have not once faced the choice between education and experience. The point is that things are not that simple. The graduates definitely have all the chances to apply, but the problem is that knowledge acquired in educational institutions is more theoretical, and the theoretical knowledge needs to be adapted to the working reality. Experience has shown that only flexible candidates, ready to adopt new experience and knowledge, will succeed in their work. From personal experience, I would like to note that a high-ranking university diploma is an advantage in an interview but the truth is that the self-confidence is not about the diploma but the knowledge, the readiness to start at a certain point, and the objectives for professional growth.

We cannot give an absolute priority to either education or experience; they are interconnected, and experience is formed at the expense of education and knowledge. In the field of digital marketing, the concepts of experience and education are exclusively interrelated. A digital marketing specialist stops improving professional knowledge every week, he or she stops gaining any experience and growing professionally as a digital marketing specialist. ProDigi has adopted the practice of annual professional certification in the academies of Google, Hubspot, Hootsuite, Facebook, LinkedIn for our employees who are obliged to take a test and get a certificate. This year, regardless of so many challenges, we had professional victories, like taking part in masterclasses of Cannes Lion, Ogylvy, Paddle, etc. The knowledge we gained is successfully applied in Digital Marketing, SMM, Video Production. For us, the words "I have years of experience in Digital Marketing" means nothing without the latest professional knowledge and skills.

The qualified staff is the top priority field of any company. We are open to new talents and collaborate with different universities to integrate those students wishing to gain experience. It's mutually beneficial cooperation; internship helps students be ready for the big world, and for us, it is a chance to find some brilliant minds. We also have foreign students as interns cooperating with us remotely. Such experience shows many gaps in our education system. For example, the educational system is mostly focused on theoretical knowledge, and only a few of the educational institutions pay attention to practical knowledge. In my opinion, the main problem is that the education system responds very slowly to new modern professions. In fact, we do not have any institution or department for Digital Marketing or SMM Specialist, but these specialties have been established for years, and their demand is growing all over the world. The solution is education system reform in line with the reality and requests of the modern market.”

inOne, Founder and CEO Artem Torosyan

inOne is a name in the digital community that offers a new way of using discount cards in one place. The mobile application for Android and iOS makes it possible to digitize, keep all the discount and bonus cards in the app, and get extra coupons and hot sales. The ambitious team of inOne, led by Artem Torosyan, will surprise us in the future with new innovative and creative ideas but what is more interesting now is the strategies they have adopted for the staff recruitment.

“Recruitment is, for sure, one of the main working processes that may lead the business to success. More often, the HR department chooses candidates exceptionally by their knowledge. inOne picks candidates with relevant experience of 2 and more years. If the candidate does not have the experience, education comes to the fore. We do pay much attention to the emotional intelligence and human qualities of the candidates, the ability to work, and coexist in the team. We give preference to those professionals who are open-minded, ready to learn, and develop new skills.

The matter of hiring graduates without experience is very specific to the IT-sphere. We have graduates and students on internships in our company that got the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge with our professionals and, depending on their success, they may be hired for a full-time job. For example, at the moment, we have a senior-level student intern and mid-level pupil intern doing an amazing job.

The problem of priorities and giving advantages to experienced candidates have deep roots that need to be solved in universities. It is not only about implementing practice courses but also carrying out core changes or even adopting a completely new education system. Of course, it will take time to plan the project, set the budget, and carry out a proof of concept. With the new model of education, there will be a new level of contact between the university and the labor market. Moreover, businesses will be ready to pay for training courses in universities to attract and keep the best talents.

The labor market is still on the stage of changing and adapting to the modern world and the demands of the market. Employers are not sure yet whether the graduates are ready to work without getting additional courses. That is why, when it comes to priorities, we still choose experience. It doesn’t mean that education is not a priority. With professional mentors and leaders, students may find themselves in new professions. After all, the labor market doesn’t have borders anymore, and graduates should consider other options besides Armenia.”

Digital Caramel, CEO Arsen Sultanyan

Being the first native network advertising company in Armenia, Digital Caramel has managed to create a team of professionals and true devotees that value the knowledge they have and never stop gaining new skills. Arsen Sultanyan, CEO of the company, has a clear vision of recruitment and strategies in finding talents.

“In general, when hiring, first of all, we pay attention to experience. For me, experience has always played a bigger role than education, and I can explain my motifs. The reason why we still pay attention to experience rather than education is the current situation in the educational system. An experienced person has more knowledge than an educated person. Of course, we are talking about professional knowledge, and not just being literate.

Еxperience is our number one priority, but we do not rule out the possibility that a graduated candidate may be hired. Digital marketing is a new field that develops and changes every day. Until a few years ago, the employees did not have the relevant experience, but together we managed to specialize in a new field. Those who were motivated gained relevant knowledge and became professionals. In other words, we always welcome those talents who have no experience but desire to gain knowledge.

We do understand that giving priority to experience is rather unfair, but the problem has deep roots. We must state a sad fact that during the last 6-7 years we have had only a few candidates from state university, while the majority was from private universities. It is one of our brief statistics that show state universities no longer meet modern world requirements. They have failed in the mission of educating specialists following the market requirements. Universities are meant to provide theoretical knowledge in line with our reality. It is necessary to keep up with the times especially when it comes to the digital sphere. In that sense, private universities have been quite successful. We had interns from those universities in our company that showed themselves in the best light and later were hired for a full-time job.

As a part of the community, we want to have our contribution to preparing skilled professionals. Digital Caramel offers students to apply for an internship, but on the condition that they will attend not for a grade but to gain knowledge. We either do not accept such students, or we give grades and spend no time. Those students who show their potential during the internship may become a valuable asset for the company, whom we may offer a job in the future. The problem of students' lack of experience at the moment comes from the fact that students treat the internship as a "non-necessary'' part of education. This attitude is inherited from the Soviet regime, and neither the universities nor the students have changed much since then. Private companies have no interest in becoming part of such a fictitious process.

The solution to giving priority either to experience or education may become additional training courses, seminars, and webinars. Such courses give maximum knowledge and skills in a short time. The candidate with such knowledge and skills may easily turn them into experience, thus compensating for the initial fact of not having experience. In its turn, the company will save resources and time on giving relevant knowledge to the new employee.”