Do years of experience really matter?
In some cases, years of experience are important to consider. For example, if you’re hiring a doctor, you need someone who has completed their medical residency and has a certain amount of experience. A surgical residency lasts for at least five years, so you wouldn’t hire someone with only three years of experience.
Job-related experience is important in well-regulated industries, such as finance and medicine. Doctors, pharmacists, architects, engineers and other professionals must have a minimum amount of experience before applying for their professional licenses or sitting for certification exams.
Experience may not bequite as important (or important at all) if you’re hiring an entry-level role or for a role that can be learned on-the-job. For example, it’s possible for someone without receptionist experience to learn how to do the essential functions of the job. You may have to provide on-the-job training or create a mentoring program, but you can easily teach a self-starter how to greet visitors, answer a phone system and perform other receptionist duties.
Additionally, a certain number of years of experience may not be necessary if the candidate has other qualities or ways to prove they can be successful in the role. For example, a graphic designer with a great portfolio of design work may not need a minimum five years of experience to be a great match for your role.
Read More: What Is Relevant Experience?
Using resumes to assess experience
When it comes to work experience, a resume doesn’t always tell you the whole story. That said, it’s a good place to start. You can’t reasonably interview every person who applies for a job, so you need some way to narrow down your list of options.
To assess experience, pick a skill and then read through the resume to determine how many years the candidate has been using that skill. For example, if you’re assessing customer service experience, skim their previous job duties for mentions of customer service, customer success, customer journey and other relevant terms.
Remember that many skills have multiple names. If you need someone to work with spreadsheets, for example, a resume may not mention spreadsheets directly. Look for Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, pivot tables and other spreadsheet-related phrases.
Read More: How to Read an Applicant Resume: Resume Review Tips
How far back should a resume go?
The number of positions included in a resume depends on several factors, such as how much experience the candidate has and what industry you’re in. If the candidate has only had two jobs, they’ll probably list them both. Someone with 25 years of experience is likely to list only the most recent positions.
Other qualities to consider beyond years of experience
For recruiters and hiring managers, experience is just one piece of the puzzle. Just because someone has a minimum amount of job experience doesn’t mean they have the right skills, personality traits and attitude. Therefore, basing your decisions on experience alone may cause you to lose out on a great hire.
If Candidate A has seven years of experience and Candidate B has five years of experience, you might be tempted to hire Candidate A. After all, they’ve been doing the job for two years longer than the other person. But maybe Candidate A has been doing the same two or three tasks for the last seven years, while Candidate B has been taking on more and more responsibility.
To avoid screening out high-quality candidates, consider these additional qualities.
Life experience
Just because someone hasn’t performed a task as part of their job duties doesn’t mean they have no experience in it. Check each application carefully to see if the applicant listed any relevant life experience. For example, a list of volunteer positions might give you insight into the applicant’s ability to provide excellent customer service, prepare business documents or process financial transactions.
If the applicant just graduated from college, look for a list of student activities and organizations. Even if they have no official job experience, the candidate may have served as the officer of a club or volunteered as a campus ambassador, both of which provide valuable opportunities to interact with people in a professional environment.
Emotional intelligence
People with high emotional intelligence understand their own emotions and are extremely perceptive about how their colleagues are feeling. This helps them navigate tense situations and anticipate the best way to solve problems involving emotions in the workplace. For example, emotional intelligence makes it possible to empathize with a coworker who’s going through a tough time and needs help with some of their duties.
When you interview a candidate, ask at least one question designed to assess emotional intelligence. For example, you can ask them to describe how they would resolve a conflict with a colleague. This provides an opportunity to determine if they’d treat the colleague with empathy and remain open to an opposing point of view.
Related: Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Things to Consider
Intellectual curiosity
In some roles, intellectual curiosity is far more important than years of experience. People with high levels of intellectual curiosity are extremely interested in learning more about the world around them. Rather than accepting surface-level explanations, they dedicate themselves to reading or doing research to gain in-depth knowledge.
Curious people are open-minded and may have excellent research skills, making them well-suited to many jobs, even if they have limited work experience. You can assess intellectual curiosity by asking candidates to describe a new skill they learned recently.
Educational background
As you review each resume, make note of the applicant’s educational background. If you invite them for an interview, be sure to ask more about their coursework to determine if it’s relevant to the job. During your discussion, ask more about what each course entailed and what the candidate liked most about the program.
Keep in mind that while advanced degrees may be necessary for specific positions, you should also consider a candidate’s transferable skills that could be beneficial to the position.
Improve your candidate pool
Years of experience are an important consideration in hiring, but they aren’t the only factor to consider. To increase the quality of your candidate pool, consider additional qualities when determining if an applicant should move to the next stage of the hiring process. Additionally, when creating job descriptions, think carefully about the years of experience requirement. For instance, does a candidate really need at least six years of experience to do the job, or would 2-3 years and a great portfolio of work suffice? Should years of experience even be a requirement, or is how proficient they are in a certain skill matter more?
