A recent study by Nature Human Behavior noted that when a candidate lists years of tenure with an employer rather than actual dates of employment, those candidates were more likely to get a callback. Most notably, this improvement was seen for candidates with an employment gap.
Here’s my take on why listing years with an employer might help a candidate. It may be that this simple step is also helpful to the recruiter!
Math Errors
Almost all job descriptions ask for years of experience in a particular field or role. It’s easy to see all that experience when it’s with one employer, but if you now have to calculate the length of service and manually add up all the experience. It’s easy to make a mistake in your calculations.
I’ve seen this error made many times with supervisors and recruiters I’ve worked with. They were throwing out perfectly good candidates until I stepped in to show my work in calculating the relevant experience.
Reducing Bias Against Employment Gaps
For candidates with a gap, there is already a bias against them. Many employers begin to imagine what might have happened in the employment gap. Some creative explanations I’ve heard have been:
- Were they laid off/fired/quit without notice?
- Are they independently wealthy and do not need to work?
- Do they struggle to maintain regular schedules and need a break from working?
- Will they be dedicated to our role or just looking for their next out?
Of course, we do not know the answers to these questions during screening applications. This bias causes excellent candidates to meet the round file (trash can) too quickly.
How to Make the Maths Easier for Your Team
If you use an applicant tracking system (ATS), see if you can set it to report years of employment calculations automatically. If not, train your staff to look at the dates of employment and show their work in their calculations by manually adding up the relevant employment history.
This is just one way to help increase the quality of your applications and recruitment process.
Your HR Pro 