Do You Really Need Three Years' Experience?

A question for employers

Why does your entry-level role require three years' experience?

We see it all the time: an organisation advertises an entry-level position, but somewhere in the job description is a requirement for two or three years' previous experience.

It's worth stopping and asking why. If this is genuinely an entry-level role, does someone really need to have already spent three years doing it?

Experience is useful. But it isn't everything

Of course, some roles require specific experience. There are responsibilities, systems and technical skills that can take time to develop, but not every requirement in a job description is essential.

Sometimes employers are actually looking for:

• Someone who can communicate well
• Someone who is organised
• Someone who can solve problems
• Someone who is comfortable using technology
• Someone who is curious
• Someone who is willing to learn
• Someone who will work well with the team

Those qualities don't need three years' experience

Those qualities don't necessarily come with three years' experience. They can come from education, volunteering, part-time work, personal projects, sport, caring responsibilities or simply having the right attitude.

Take another look at your job descriptions

Before publishing your next opportunity, go through the requirements one by one.

Ask:

• Is this genuinely essential?
• If someone didn't have this experience, could we teach them?
• Does this requirement actually predict whether someone will be good at the job?
• Or is it simply something we've always included?
• Are we asking for experience because we need it, or because we're trying to reduce the number of applications?
• Would we have applied for this job when we were starting out?

If the answer is no, it's not really entry-level

If the answer is no, your 'entry-level' role might not actually be entry-level.

Hire for potential

The biggest advantage of recruiting someone at the beginning of their career is that you have the opportunity to develop them. You can teach them your systems, introduce them to your processes, help them understand the industry, give them responsibility and watch them grow.

What you can't always teach is curiosity, enthusiasm, resilience and a genuine willingness to learn.

So before you add another experience requirement to your next job advert, ask yourself whether you're filtering out the very people you're trying to recruit. Don't ask someone to prove they've already had the opportunity you're offering them. Give them the opportunity to gain it.