The lack of professional experience often leads to rejections when applying for a job. The approach of employers seems logical at first. Because if a candidate can prove relevant and several years of professional experience, they should have acquired relevant knowledge and suitable skills during this time. The logic: There is a correlation between previous professional experience and later productivity at work. Scientific studies prove that this logic is a myth.
Amazing: It is not trivial to fully understand a term such as "professional experience" that is taken for granted in everyday life and is often used in connection with recruiting new employees. If we consult the Duden dictionary, the word is explained as experience in the job. A not particularly enlightening description. It is therefore obvious to look up the parts of the word "profession" and "experience" separately. "Occupation" is defined as an activity through which someone earns an income, while "experience" is described as routine or knowledge gained by repeating something. "Professional experience" is therefore knowledge gained through repetition in an activity that earns money.
The amount of professional experience that a candidate brings with them is usually calculated from the cumulative duration of employment in the corresponding function and industry. However, this is a very imprecise measure. For example, a person can gain basic professional experience during training and carry out relevant activities in other functions or industries. In addition, the amount of professional experience does not take into account the quality of the professional experience gained in any way.
The requirements in job advertisements may prevent potential candidates from applying. Requirements that say little about the quality of applicants will at most lead to a reduction in the number of applicants.
As early as 1995, Quinones found in a meta-analysis that the correlation between previous work experience and later work performance is 7 percent. A more recent meta-analysis by Iddekinge (2019) also addressed the question. The result of the correlation between previous work experience and current work performance is even lower at 0.4 percent. In a more recent meta-analysis by Sackett (2023), this correlation even drops to 0.07 percent. These results are based on over 150 individual studies from over 50 years of scientific research.
Sources:
- https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-87474-001
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1995.tb01785.x
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/peps.12335
- https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-33488-001
- https://www.hr-datenliebe.de/
The relevance of professional experience for performance potential in the new job is significantly overestimated. The most likely reason for this is that the very easily measurable measure of "time" (i.e. professional experience in years) is mistakenly equated with the much more difficult to measure competencies (i.e. action skills)..
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