Why Experience Often Trumps Certifications in Technical Hiring
Imagine this: One person studies hard for a month to pass their driving permit test. They memorize the manual, take countless practice exams, and walk into the test center and score a perfect 100%. On the other hand, another person who has been driving for five years takes the same test and scores an 80%. Now ask yourself—who would you trust behind the wheel?
That same principle applies when it comes to hiring technical professionals.
At StaffMaze, Inc., we often come across candidates stacked with certifications—CompTIA, Cisco, AWS—you name it. They’ve got the acronyms, the badges, and the test scores. But when the rubber meets the road, many of them lack the real-world instincts that only come from time in the field. Meanwhile, there are seasoned techs who may not have a paper trail full of credentials, but they’ve solved hundreds of real-life problems, handled pressure, and built an internal GPS for troubleshooting.
Experience Builds Something Certifications Can’t: Common Sense
In IT and other technical positions, common sense is the invisible tool in a technician’s toolbox. You can’t teach it in a course, and you can’t cram it in a weekend boot camp. It’s gained through years of trial and error, shadowing senior techs, fixing misconfigurations, learning how to talk a panicked end-user off the ledge, and knowing what not to touch before making things worse.
We’ve seen it countless times—certified candidates freeze up in unfamiliar environments or lack the confidence to act when documentation falls short. Meanwhile, someone who’s been in the trenches for years might not remember the official term for a subnet mask, but they can reconfigure a router, patch a security hole, or recover a corrupted mailbox blindfolded.
The Disconnect in Hiring
Unfortunately, many hiring managers rely solely on resumes and keyword filters. If the resume says “Azure Certified,” it gets moved to the top. If the resume is light on certs, it’s often ignored—even if that candidate has been keeping entire law firms or hospitals running smoothly for a decade. This is where the hiring process fails.
That’s why experienced recruiters who understand the technical field—like those at StaffMaze—play a crucial role. We look beyond the paper. We talk shop with the candidates, assess how they solve real problems, and often present hiring managers with candidates they might have overlooked. And nine times out of ten, those “under-the-radar” candidates become their best hires.
Balance is Key
Now, this isn’t to say certifications don’t matter. They absolutely do—especially in areas like cybersecurity or compliance where formal knowledge is critical. But certifications should complement experience, not replace it. The best technicians are the ones who have both—education and scars from the battlefield.
At the end of the day, would you rather have someone who’s read about how to handle a server outage or someone who’s stayed up until 3 a.m. fixing one?
Hire for Real-World Value
StaffMaze, Inc. is built on the belief that hiring is both an art and a science. We take pride in vetting candidates not just for what’s on paper, but for the value they bring when things go wrong—and they will go wrong. That’s when experience speaks louder than any certificate ever could.
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