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How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

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Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#11

Post by tedunangst »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #5

The top rated answer though is pretty priceless. The easy way to over come the experience requirement, is to put in the time. But the relevant response is that when you don't know what you don't know, you're not nearly as effective as you think you are. I remember being so depressed at Intel one day when I figured out I was tons smarter than this senior engineer I was working with but I didn't have a shot at his job…

Was your story supposed to conclude with "then I got his job and realized how hard it was" or were you really smarter?

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#12

Post by xsmasher »

What the employer means in the context is that they want someone with practical experience with the tech; not just book-learning. All you have to do is display the experience that you have, or get some if you don't have it.

"We covered this in class" is generally useless, given the gulf between theory and practice. "I have app X in the app store" is priceless. Github profile, history of helpful posts in a related forum, stack overflow reputation - any of these can show that you've done the work before.

The experience requirement is also used to weed out applicants who intend to read one book on the tech/language and learn the rest on the job. In some positions that is appropriate, in others it is not.

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#13

Post by ahlatimer »

timwiseman wrote: post #10
imjk wrote: post #3

As an employer, I give you this advice: Just apply. We make exceptions for smart or motivated people all the time. After all, your resume's gonna be viewed by a human who'll give it a subjective assessment. If by chance the company you're applying to is so rigid in their standards that they can only make decision based on objective measures, it's probably not a company that you want to be at.

I fully agree, though I will caveat that many companies, mostly larger ones, have the vast majority of resumes funnelled through HR. HR may be much more inclined to just toss a resume that doesn't check every box that was listed as a "requirement" for the job than a hiring manager actually would. Of course, that may fall under the "it's probably not a company that you want" category, but it is well worth noting.

Which is why you don't go through HR. Every piece of hiring advice from a reputable source will tell you to find out who the person is making the decision and go to them rather than firing a resume to jobs@example.com. As patio11 said, "resumes are an institution created to mean that no one has to read resumes." [1]

[1]: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#14

Post by Retric »

timwiseman wrote: post #10
imjk wrote: post #3

As an employer, I give you this advice: Just apply. We make exceptions for smart or motivated people all the time. After all, your resume's gonna be viewed by a human who'll give it a subjective assessment. If by chance the company you're applying to is so rigid in their standards that they can only make decision based on objective measures, it's probably not a company that you want to be at.

I fully agree, though I will caveat that many companies, mostly larger ones, have the vast majority of resumes funnelled through HR. HR may be much more inclined to just toss a resume that doesn't check every box that was listed as a "requirement" for the job than a hiring manager actually would. Of course, that may fall under the "it's probably not a company that you want" category, but it is well worth noting.

Most large companies have a side channel where managers can say to HR, this is a viable candidate. HR still does the background check etc but they are verifying the resume not evaluating it.

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#15

Post by j45 »

Years of experience is a farce typically made up by HR folks that have zero understanding or clue of the detail's they're hiring for.

Case in point for people looking for "10+ years of rails experience."

Secret tip:

1) Apply anyways. I got jobs just by showing interest and a willingness to learn anything.

2) Build cool, publicly usable and visible projects. Show your versatility to build and ship different kinds of projects

3) Show a knack for picking up languages and technologies quickly and in your own time. This is something you can't fake until you make it. Maybe consider using the technologies you're applying to use in a job.

4) For the really crazy and if it fits your situation, say you're wanting a good fit for everyone and have a few days or week you can chip towards coming in, hanging out and learning more about the company and job to see if it's a good fit for everyone, unpaid. Hiring is one of those decisions that people don't want to hire someone and make a mistake so they'll go for the safe candidate vs the best.

If they feel like keeping you on and paying you for the week, it's up to them. It's better to date before getting married anyways, right? The more you can act like management the greater chance you'll catch their attention and stand out.

The wrong kind of place might not take notice. The right kind will notice and like how you roll.

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#16

Post by dsr_ »

I have used "years of experience" as a shorthand for "we are looking for someone with mature judgement; who has been in many different situations and worked through them; who will stop and consider consequences before committing to risky ventures; who will not panic when faced with a new problem; who is likely to have learned from experience in a way which will benefit our company."

Perhaps I should spell that out in future, though.

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#17

Post by dasil003 »

csallen wrote: post #9

I think the op's point was completely ignored: Different people progress at different rates. When you're in high school, you have roughly the same amount of schooling experience as your peers. That doesn't change the fact that you may be taking advanced classes while they take remedial ones. It's easy to accuse the op of arrogance. And who knows, maybe he is arrogant. But in the end, that's just an ad hominem and is…

Sure there is a valid point in there, but I don't think it's one worth pursuing. If you make a fuss out of it then you're not really giving a good impression; you come off as a difficult person who is focused on the wrong things: in this case, the written requirements rather than end goal of judging if you are right for the company. No matter how demonstrably smart and skilled this kid is, I would walk out of the interview with the impression that all his brilliance is going to be misdirected and he'll be out in the weeds have the time because he doesn't have common sense about what's important.

Instead, just do like everyone else is saying and apply. If they reject you based on HR filtering then there's a good likelihood the culture would be bad for you in the long run anyway, if not then you put your best foot forward and if you're as good as you think you'll be snapped up before long.

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#18

Post by billpatrianakos »

You have to accept when things are out of your control. You cannot reliably get around job requirements. The best you can do is apply and make your case either on the application or your resume. It's probably better to work your way up in jobs requiring less experience than it is to fight the system as hiring managers have no reason to put their faith in you yet and most likely won't be easily swayed to let you slide on requirements when they believe skill and years experience are correlated.

That said, I have a little experience getting around requirements. I was recently offered a job and havent completed my college degree nor have I worked anywhere that gave me relevant experience (sort of). About two years ago I decided I would ignore the rules and simply start my own company sans degree or work experience. I was a self taught developer with nothing but fast food jobs to fill my resume with. I worked my ass off for two years for peanuts while building a portfolio and gaining experience. I took every opportunity that came my way including accepting a position on the board of directors of a charity and working under contract for a prestigious health education organization on a large publicly funded project. When I finally started applying for jobs I had built up a great looking resume in a non-traditional way and was able to get hired at my number one choice of all the paces I interviewed at. For all the interviews I did get, there were orders of magnitude more that I didn't and I didn't exactly meet the requirements for any of the jobs on paper but my own self-made experience allowed me to get a job despite that.

Now, my point is that you can overcome any requirements including years of experience by simply being good at what you do but you can't expect any employer to see that no matter how obvious it is as some people don't have the ability to see when it's appropriate to draw outside the lines so to speak and go strictly by the book. I'd submit that it's their loss and if you really are more skilled, the companies that recognize that are the ones you'll want to work for anyway and the ones who don't are most likely not a good fit for you to begin with.

Re: How to overcome “years of experience” requirements when applying for jobs

#19

Post by Kadrith »

Retric wrote: post #14
timwiseman wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree, though I will caveat that many companies, mostly larger ones, have the vast majority of resumes funnelled through HR. HR may be much more inclined to just toss a resume that doesn't check every box that was listed as a "requirement" for the job than a hiring manager actually would. Of course, that may fall under the "it's probably not a company that you want" category, but it is well worth noting.

Most large companies have a side channel where managers can say to HR, this is a viable candidate. HR still does the background check etc but they are verifying the resume not evaluating it.

That is how all of our resumes work; HR just verifies the information and has no role in determining whether someone is appropriate...unless it is for an HR job. Someone in our department must review every resume for the initial pass before HR begins the background checks or schedules interviews. It takes longer to hire someone but we know that nobody is making decisions for our department.
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