The Experience Problem Isn't Always a Candidate Problem

Sometimes it's a hiring problem.

Every early-career candidate has heard this:

You need more experience.

But experience has become the safest reason to reject someone.

Not necessarily the most accurate one.

Because when a hiring team can't clearly explain what success looks like in a role, they often fall back on things that feel easier to assess:

• Years of experience

• Previous job titles

• Degrees

• Well-known employers

The problem?

Those things tell you where someone has been and what they have done.

Not what they're capable of doing.

I've seen candidates with one year of experience outperform people with five.

Not because they knew more.

Because they learned faster, adapted quicker and understood the outcome they were being hired to deliver.

The employers that get it right start with a different question:

What needs to be true 12 months after this person joins?

Once that's clear, experience becomes one signal.

Not the signal.

Agree or disagree? I'd genuinely like to hear it.