While nobody doubts the value of having experience on board in an organisation, freshers bring to the table many qualities that are lost in those who have already spent long hard years on the workforce. Here are a few reasons that may convince you of their potential worth.

Hunger

The one defining trait of a fresher is the hunger and desire to achieve that they have to offer. They want to conquer the world, and the funny thing is, think that they actually can. They want recognition that isn’t a marksheet or a college degree. They want to write up a new Career Achievements section on their CV. They’re not jaded and weathered to give up easily. And sometimes the belief that it can be done can make all the difference. They understand the value of opportunity when it comes to them and if you’re the one to give them their first chance, you can definitely expect them to want to prove that they worth their salt.

The Inexperience of Youth

Freshers are out of college or high school or what have you. They don’t arrive to interviews with prior expectations of what working at an organization may be like or how many other organizations function. They don’t have a clue what to ask of you. Sure, some may have had internships here and there, but the fact is that they don’t know what it’s like to contribute and be an employee. Interns join to learn and gain some experience, but both you and the fresher realize that when you hire them, you pay them to contribute to the future of the company. Add to that the fact that having no preconceived notions means that they are more likely to be a source of new ideas and more likely to engage in outside the box thinking.

Desire to Learn

For all the talk of the freshers’ naiveté and their blindly optimistic hunger, freshers are there to learn. What you have on your side in the equation is that since freshers are so willing to learn, you can assign them whatever you want and it’ll be an enriching experience for them since they have no prior knowledge. What they have is theory weaned from books and from talking with friends and family, what they want is real world practical experience gained by execution. You can train freshers to do whatever you want, they are easier to mould and will serve you better in several functions where coming in with prior ideas of how it’s done can actually be an impediment.

Easy On The Wallet

Let’s all be frank and admit it. This is the most common reason anybody ever takes on freshers. They will not break the bank as for any smart young out of college jobseeker, what is most important is the opportunity to prove themselves to you and to the world at large. It doesn’t mean you pay them barely enough to live on. What this means is that more often than not, a fresher tends to provide great returns on the amount of investment that you make when you hire one.

Mathew Hall is a career counselor and works with Micheal Page to provide some of the top IT jobs in Singapore. He also likes to share various career related tips through his posts.