7 Best indicators Of Experience

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7 Best Indicators Of Experience

Experience is a key component of mojo as I have said in a previous post. But how do you know if a person has experience? If that person has enough mojo? Well, I have looked at some lists for you and created my own list. It is hand-selected specifically to show you what qualities in a person indicate that they have experience. It will help if you are a hiring manager, coach, director, or anyone looking to decide about a person’s makeup.
Many sources make lists. I have used them to build mine for you. Wikipedia is a source that does a good job of describing how a list is built. But I don't rely on it. Instead, I used my own experience as a software development manager for about 20 years as my source. These factors are chosen to help you. Here 's my list for you in no particular order:

Testimonials - If you have a testimonial from a mutual acquaintance with the person you are
considering, that is the best situation. Ask them about the claimed experience. Otherwise, the next best thing is to ask someone that you trust. While a trusted person may not know the candidate, at least you can believe what they say. Lastly, you can even get good information from a stranger whose observations are publically available. To be more specific, lets say the candidate puts a testimonial out on a website or other public place extolling his virtues. Because anyone can see it, it is more likely to be true. However, this kind of testimonial tends to be solicited by the candidate, which reduces its credibility. Testimonials can be a valuable source of information about a candidate.

Credentials - These are like testimonials. The source is usually some institution. It has certain criteria for awarding the experience credential. If the candidate gets the credential, you can trust that the criteria were met. The institution's reputation is your guarantee. The most common example is a University Degree.

Test results - I am not talking about tests that the candidate might have taken in order to get a credential. I am talking about tests that you administer. For example, can the candidate run a particular machine, or solder, or do a math problem, or write some code, or edit a paragraph? This kind of exam is often a written exam that assures you that a job candidate is able to perform the job.

Behavioral Interviews - If you are about to ask someone if they have experience, like in an interview, how do you know if they are telling you the truth? One approach is to use behavioral interviewing techniques. Behavioral Interviewing is based on the idea that the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. If you ask a person to give an example of something they have done in the past that gives you an idea of how they will behave in the future, you will get a story of something they say they have done in the past. You can get some idea of how true their story is by how many accurate details they can give. Of course, the ultimate decision is yours. You have to decide if the details are accurate, but that is what you do. Behavioral Interviewing has been successfully used for years.

Record of Promotion - A candidate’s promotion is almost always accompanied by a requirement for experience. This requirement can be used by the evaluator as evidence of experience. Another way of saying this is that added responsibility (often a part of promotion) implies more experience. Find a person who has been given more responsibility and you will have good evidence of experience.

Publications - Like a promotion, a publication isn't proof pf experience, but it is a strong indicator. It takes time to get a paper published. Consequently, the author probably gets experience while working on the publication. People who write papers also usually have experiences that they write about.

Awards - Some awards specify a level of experience as a requirement for the award. Otherwise, you have to use the techniques described for record of promotions to verify that the award winner has experience.

These are my recommended ways to evaluate experience to get an idea of a person’s potential mojo. Try them out and good luck.

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