The Truth About Entry Level 'Work Experience'

It’s probably one of the most used words in recruitment and potentially one that is chucked around too lightly without truly understanding its impact when trying to find entry level talent. Experience refers to “practical contact with and observation of facts or events” or in other contexts “an event or occurrence which leaves an impression on someone”.

Personally, I really like the last definition. We often talk about lived experience, which really just means I have been there, I have done that and this is what I have learned. We attribute immense value to experience because we want our employees to know how to do the tasks that our businesses need to thrive and survive. Not only this, but we expect these people to hit the ground running when we hire them because they have this lived experience. This is almost never the case because each business has its own processes and operations that take time to get used to no matter how much experience you have under your belt. But hey, there may be people who really do hit the ground running so hats off to you whoever you are! Don’t get me wrong, experience is one of our most valuable assets, but are we fostering a mindset that this is the be all and end all of entry level recruitment?

Experience vs. Skills

 In my line of work the word experience gets used far too often with little regards to the impact on the audience these businesses are trying to attract. When you are trying to attract entry level talent you will immediately switch someone off when you use ‘experience’ in the role description. But why? Well believe it or not entry level talent is looking for the mystical creature called experience. Can you believe that?! So, when you put ‘must have experience’ in your description it’s a trigger that says ‘well I don’t have experience and they are looking for experience so I’m not going to read past the first sentence’. Sounds pretty basic but it still happens so often. Using the word skills and phrases like ‘exposure to’ will make a massive difference.

Growing up as a keen rugby player I was fortunate enough to captain my university team in my final year. We had some incredibly skilled players and a new batch of 1st years had just arrived. These new players didn’t have any university rugby experience and had only been exposed to school, club and colts level rugby with players their own age. University rugby is a big step up in terms of physicality, speed and endurance for these new recruits. Now as captain of the team you want to put your best players out on the field to have the best possible chance of winning – no s*$t Sherlock! But here’s the thing, you could have played 200 university games, but it doesn’t mean you’re a good player. So, you can’t pick players based on experience alone.

Rugby training was a massive eye opener because these 1st year players had the opportunity to showcase their skills and potential, not their experience. They were able to give me a taste of their skills which gave me a vision of what their potential could look like on game day. Let me tell you, some of these 1st years went on to be the best players in our team for many seasons to come.

Why have I just written two paragraphs about rugby? The moral of the story is you need to give entry level talent an environment to show you their skills and potential. Not only this, but you need to give them an environment where it's ok to make mistakes. Research has shown that employees value employers who give them a safety net to be creative and make mistakes without being questioned or shouted at. If I said to one of the new players “sorry you’re not playing this year because you don’t have any experience of university rugby” then we could never have a team. 4 years on and every senior player will have left and no one to take their place and continue the legacy. It’s the same thing within business, succession plan with exciting entry level talent who bring fresh and creative skills to your organisation.

Now someone could have a tonne of experience but be a really poor culture fit. You really need to do a deep dive here and understand what is most important to you in your business. I have spoken to many of our clients recently and a vast majority highlighted that they valued culture fit more than skills when they are hiring students and graduates. Some also went on to say that skills can be taught but attitude can’t. In many ways I agree, but the balance is really what we need.

Has someone ever told you “I think you left quite an impression on them”? Usually it’s in a positive context and what it really means is that you impacted an individual in a positive way that changed their outlook or understanding of a particular event, object or individual. This genuinely makes you feel good! I know it does for me. Knowing you have impacted someone’s life in a positive or constructive way is something that gives us purpose and fulfilment. You’ve given someone an experience and its imprinted on them for life. This in its most basic form is how we learn and gain lived experience.

Can you think of a moment when you had your first job and something major happened that left a positive and lasting impression on you? It may have changed the way you approach a particular piece of work or how you liaise with difficult situations. Whatever it is, you still remember it and it's ingrained into who you are as a person and how you behave around others. On the flipside, can you imagine what things would be like now if you hadn’t been given an opportunity to experience that event? Maybe less informed, maybe less experienced.

There’s a reason why leaving a positive impression on people feels good. As humans we have a vision of our ideal selves of who we want to be and then there is who we actually are right now. If who we want to be aligns with our lived behaviours then there is congruency – we feel satisfied, motivated, fulfilled and content. However, if our lived behaviours don’t match with who we want to be then we feel dissatisfied, demotivated and sad. This is incongruency. In other words, make your actions match your ambitions. This is always an iterative process and whilst these lived behaviours may have positive intent, they are not always right the first time so we need to continue tweaking and adapting to learn what the right method looks like. A wise man in Aberdeen once told me that the reason most people fail is because they stop learning.

So, the next time you think of the word experience when you are hiring entry level talent, don’t think about what previous work they have done in your industry. Think about what skills they have and what impression you can have on them that will catapult their potential and make them never want to leave.