Why “Years of Experience” Fails as an L&D Hiring Metric
“Must have 7–10 years of instructional design experience.”
It’s one of the most common requirements in L&D job postings and one of the least useful.
In practice, years of experience tells you very little about how someone actually performs:
- What kinds of problems they’ve solved
- Whether they’ve adapted as the field has changed
- How they think, collaborate, and drive impact
In a learning landscape shaped by AI, data, and constant change, tenure alone is a weak proxy for capability.
Here’s why relying on years of experience limits your hiring and what to use instead.
The Core Problem With “Years of Experience”
1. Time ≠ Skill Depth
Two instructional designers with “8 years of experience” may have radically different capabilities.
One may have:
- Designed the same onboarding course repeatedly
- Worked within narrow constraints
- Never owned outcomes or strategy
Another may have:
- Led cross-functional learning initiatives
- Built analytics into programs
- Navigated multiple industries and modalities
Years don’t capture complexity, scope, or growth.
2. The Field Has Changed Faster Than Tenure Reflects
L&D roles today require skills that barely existed five years ago:
- Learning analytics and measurement
- AI-assisted design workflows
- Experience design and accessibility standards
- Consulting and stakeholder influence
A candidate with fewer years, but recent, relevant experience, may be far better equipped than someone with long tenure in outdated models.
3. It Penalizes High-Potential Talent
Over-indexing on experience:
- Excludes career switchers with strong adjacent skills
- Slows internal mobility
- Reinforces homogeneity in learning teams
In a field that thrives on diverse perspectives, this is a strategic miss.
What to Use Instead: Better Hiring Signals for L&D
If you want to predict performance, replace time-based criteria with capability-based evidence.
1. Problem-Solving Experience (Not Job Tenure)
Ask:
- What problems has this person actually solved?
- How ambiguous or complex were those problems?
- What constraints did they navigate?
What to look for
- Clear problem framing
- Thoughtful solution selection
- Awareness of tradeoffs
Impact comes from judgment, not longevity.
2. Evidence of Learning Impact
Strong L&D professionals can explain:
- What success looked like
- How learning was evaluated
- What changed as a result
Better signals than years
- Metrics tied to performance or behavior
- Iteration based on data or feedback
- Reflection on what worked and what didn’t
3. Adaptability and Learning Agility
The best L&D hires are still learning.
Look for candidates who:
- Can describe how their approach has evolved
- Have adopted new tools or methods intentionally
- Stay curious about the business, not just learning theory
Red flag: “This is how I’ve always done it.”
4. Strategic Thinking and Consulting Skills
Instructional design isn’t just production, it’s partnership.
Assess whether candidates can:
- Clarify vague requests
- Push back diplomatically
- Align learning to business goals
These skills rarely correlate with years served, and often emerge faster in diverse, project-based experience.
5. Quality of Experience Over Quantity
Replace “X years required” with criteria like:
- Experience designing learning for specific audiences
- Exposure to certain constraints (scale, compliance, global teams)
- Ownership of projects from diagnosis to evaluation
This gives candidates room to demonstrate relevance instead of tenure.
What to Change in Your Job Descriptions
Instead of:
“7+ years of instructional design experience required”
Try:
- “Demonstrated ability to design learning aligned to business outcomes”
- “Experience using data to evaluate and improve learning effectiveness”
- “Demonstrated ability to collaborate with multiple stakeholders and translate ambiguous needs into clear learning solutions”
You’ll widen your talent pool, and improve signal quality.
Hire for Capability, Not Calendar Time
Years of experience are easy to screen for, but easy metrics rarely lead to strong hires.
L&D teams that move beyond tenure:
- Hire more adaptable talent
- Improve diversity of thought
- Build learning functions that evolve with the business
In a field defined by change, how someone thinks and learns will always matter more than how long they’ve been around.
How Teamed Helps Organizations Hire Beyond “Years of Experience”
At Teamed, we see firsthand how experience-based filters limit hiring outcomes in the learning industry. That’s why our approach, across recruiting, talent pooling, and flexible hiring, focuses on demonstrated capability, not arbitrary tenure. We evaluate instructional designers and L&D professionals based on how they solve problems, work with stakeholders, adapt to evolving tools, and deliver measurable learning impact. For hiring managers, this means faster access to talent who can actually do the work today, not just those who’ve been in the field the longest. In a market where learning roles are changing faster than job titles can keep up, hiring for capability isn’t just more equitable, it’s more effective.
