My resume and work history is clearly available on several job seeking platforms. I've made my desired position, employment history, and experience clear--yet I still get calls from recruiters that try to coax me into claiming that I have experience that I don't have. I find this very unsettling. It certainly explains a lot, especially in the tech industry.
I understand that recruiters make their living from commissions, but lying about my experience level is not how I want to start my employment relationship. Of course, if employers could understand a little more about human nature, perhaps recruiters would not be so motivated to lie. That arbitrary number of experience years is pretty much useless. One person with ten years of experience could be amazing at the job, while another person with the same amount of experience could be complete crap. The number is meaningless.
My resume and work history show a fraction of my knowledge. Science recognizes that full immersion in a foreign culture will increase a person's ability to understand that language, cultural norms, and speed up assimilation into the culture. Conversely, employers fail to understand that when potential employees use work skills in their personal life, they actually become far more adept at them than people who only use them during work hours. Since I am constantly using my skills, they are kept sharp.
Maybe someday, employers will start to understand the significance of full immersion in skills, and instead of asking for some arbitrary amount of experience, they will start asking how often do potential employees use their skills. From there, they might actually start hiring people who are adept at their jobs. Until then, I have to deal with recruiters who want me to lie so they can get their commission. I'm not going to compromise my ethics to satisfy someone else's broken hiring system.
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