Without a doubt!

If you can get what you're looking for AND have them already trained or even current, then there's no reason not to do that.

However, limiting your candidate pool to only those that have time in type will cause you miss out on lots of good people...that might just be a better fit for the department and the company.

As somebody in a position to hire (albeit for a VERY small operator), having a type rating for the plane we fly is exceedingly low on my list of desired candidate traits; IMO, its more of a bonus than a requirement.