From the hiring desk

Do You Actually Need Someone With Industry Experience?

Ally Hiring · October 4, 2026

Your job post says "5+ years in the industry required."

Ask yourself why.

Usually it's not because the work takes five years to learn. It's because it feels safe.

What experience is really standing in for

When you ask for industry experience, you're usually trying to avoid something. Training time. A slow start. A mistake that costs you a customer.

Fair. But the title on someone's resume doesn't tell you any of that. It tells you where they've been, not what they can do.

What it costs you

Your pool shrinks. Every "must have" removes people. Some of the removed would have been your best.

You hire habits you didn't pick. Someone from the industry brings how everyone else does it, including the stuff you wish you did differently.

You pay for it. People with the exact background know it, and they price it in.

When experience does matter

• The work is licensed or regulated, and a mistake is a legal problem.
• Someone gets hurt if it's done wrong.
• You have no time or person to train anyone, and you need results in week one.

If one of those is true, ask for it plainly. That's a real requirement.

When it doesn't

For most roles, what predicts success is whether they learn fast, show up, care about the work, and handle customers well.

Ask yourself: what could someone without the background learn in a few months? If the answer is "most of it," you're screening on the wrong thing.

What to look for instead

• Have they learned something hard before, fast?
• Can they walk you through how they solved a real problem?
• Do they ask good questions in the interview?
• Have they done similar work in a different setting?

Rewrite your job post around the outcome you need, not the years you want. You'll see a different pile of applicants.

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