Does experience matter when hiring?
September 15, 2008 by Miki Saxon
Post from Leadership Turn
When a bit of serendipity, no matter how small, drops into your life it’s a wise move to notice and appreciate it.
Last week our channel editor sent a reminder that today was theme day (when participating Biz Channel bloggers all write on the same subject) and the subject was “Does Experience Matter?”
A day later I read a fascinating article based on Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard’s co-authored paper titled Unpacking Prior Experience: How Career History Affects Job Performance about the dangers in hiring dominantly based on experience.
Obviously a post match made in heaven.
Experience is good, right? Not always.
I remember 30 years ago arguing with managers who wanted to fill their position with a person doing the same job at their competitor—and I’m still arguing.
It’s a mindset best described by the catch-phrase “buy IBM”—meaning making a decision that your boss couldn’t argue with. This was/is especially true in hiring.
The smartest engineering vp I ever worked with had a different attitude. He said “Find me someone who fits our culture and already knows at least two [software] languages and I’ll hire her. If s/he’s learned two s/he can learn more.” He never worried if the experience was directly applicable.
Few managers would move to an identical job at a competitor, yet they look for candidates to do that same thing.
Experience in general has enormous value, but by holding out for direct or exact experience you can shoot yourself in the foot.
“A senior human resource manager told the research team, “We tried to hire from our competitors and paid a premium for the experience — but those hires were the least successful.” Another manager quoted in the paper said: “People are weighed down by the baggage they bring in.”"
So the next time you’re hiring look first at the candidate’s MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™), then at talents, then skills, then experience—the experience that shows that the person knows how to learn and enjoys the challenge.
What do you look for when hiring?
Your comments—priceless
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Image credit: bodee CC license
Oh great points! When it comes to experience, I look for experience that shows learning, motivation and overcoming challenges. If they can do that, I don’t care if the experience itself is the same type of work or not, just that they have those traits in their previous roles.
Being currently unemployed and looking for work, I wish that more people could grasp the concept that direct experience pales in comparison to certain other attributes, like competency and intelligence.
I could tell you stories of promotions and hires that make no sense given a person’s actual capabilities but, for some reason, many companies still believe that length of employment or a previous job title matters. In the last position I held, a guy I worked with moved companies for the same job, although he was TERRIBLE at his job. The other company say he had the job title and gave him the position. I bet they are now wishing they had looked beyond a title. My boss in that same company was given her role b/c she was in the right place at the right time. She has no managerial skills and no idea what her employees are up to on a daily basis and yet, people think the world of her.
Now, maybe I am bitter b/c I am an intelligent, competent person with 2 degrees and the best job that I seem to be able to get is as an idiot’s assistant but it would seem to me that when you have a history of a system that doesn’t work and you are repeatedly hiring and firing (and wasting money doing it to boot) wouldn’t you want to try a new system … although that idea leads to the concept of company evolution and a quick look at really anything gives direct evidence that people fear change more than anything.
Sorry about the rant, I am just frustrated.
Hi J, I owe you a major apology for not responding much sooner, no excuses, I just messed up.
I won’t argue with your examples, I’ve seen the same ones over and over.
But I will say that your attitude could make it difficult to land the kind of job you want. Rather than offering up public comments on what I think you should do, I’ll offer my phone number in case you’d like some free help.
Give me a call at 866.265.7267 or click the email link in the right frame next to my name. If you email be sure to put ‘about Leadership Turn’ in case it’s caught in a filter.
Again, my apologies for the delay.