Years of experience is a bullshit* qualification.** Stop evaluating candidates for it.
I said this in passing to a client last week. Later, they said it (and the follow-up discussion we had about it) fundamentally changed the way they thought about how to recruit stronger and more diverse talent. So I thought I'd tell you about it here.
Why is “minimum experience required/desired” harmful?
First of all, different people learn and develop expertise at different paces. What one person has learned how to do really well over the course of ten years, someone else might have figured out how to do (often in more innovative ways) in just five years. Do you really want to disqualify the latter right off the bat?
Secondly (though for many of us more importantly), people from historically marginalized, excluded, and oppressed groups are often members of that latter group. Someone who couldn't afford to take on an unpaid internship – because they had to work their way through school and pay down student debt, didn't have a connection to get them an early role in their industry of choice, or generally has had systemic oppression working against them throughout their schooling and career – might have fewer years of what you'd consider "applicable" experience. But I bet they also know something about working twice as hard to get half as far that'll make them a top contributor on your team very quickly.
At the end of the day, that “years of experience” requirement/suggestion is keeping you from getting applications from a stronger and more diverse talent pool.
What should we replace it with, though?
Next time you think you need a candidate with a minimum amount of experience, ask yourself what skills you're hoping the candidate has developed during those years. Do you need someone who has managed a team through difficult periods? Who can navigate complicated political dynamics with stakeholder groups? Someone comfortable diving into a project mid-process and contributing right away? Who is very comfortable successfully navigating a specific cycle or process you go through routinely? Those are the actual qualifications you should be evaluating for. If someone has developed them in half the time you might have expected, great!
There are nuances here, and special cases – we'll be discussing all of them and more equitable recruiting tips in my Equitable Hiring Workshop this spring! Sign up for the waitlist.
*Pardon my French. By "bullshit" here I mean inefficient, ineffective, racist, classist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist...shall I go on?
**...in the vast majority of cases. Sometimes years of experience really does matter -- I'm just saying this is true a LOT less often than we think it is, and usually harms our hiring processes (and DEI goals) more than it helps them.