Looking at Longevity of Experience on a Resume
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I view length of experience like tenure. I shows very little about the qualities of the candidate. In some places, like where I work, it is simply a measure of being able to not get fired. I could simply claim my few years of experience because I am extremely unlikely to get fired, and so accrue experience from that fact. But that would say nothing about my actual skills or value as a candidate. I feel the same way about college degrees. I know too many people, both with degrees and with lots of time experience, that are poor choices for a lot of tasks, simply because who they are and the other skills they lack. Perhaps experience or a degree can be an ok initial standard for getting a resume past the basic screening, but any competent interviewer should be able to tell when that experience was good or just from time served.
