Recruitment Toolkit

Assessing Experience

Substituting Education for Experience

Some minimum qualifications provide verifiable work experience that may be substituted for degrees. If no alternative is listed, substitution is not allowed.

Calculating Length of Experience

To determine the length of experience, look at the beginning and ending dates of a job by month and year. In assigning credit for months worked, subtract the starting date from the ending date. Websites are available for such calculations.

If no ending date is given for the most current job, use the date the application was submitted for the ending date.

To receive credit for any month, the applicant must have worked at least 15 days in that month. An example is found below.

Example

An applicant indicates s/he worked for a company from June 3, 1995 through July 4, 2001. The length of his/her work experience is calculated as:

Dates Worked

6/3/95 – 7/4/01

 

Years

Months

Explaination

June – December, 1995 =   7
  1. June, 1995 – applicant began June 3rd; therefore, s/he worked at least 15 days in the month
  2.  July, 1995
  3. August, 1995
  4. September, 1995
  5. October, 1995
  6. November, 1995
  7. December, 1995 – applicant worked the entire month
1996 – 2000 (full years) = 5  
  1. 1996
  2. 1997
  3. 1998
  4. 1999
  5. 2000
     
 January – June, 2001  =    6  
  1. January
  2. February
  3. March
  4. April
  5. May
  6. June

NOTE: applicant left July 4th; therefore, s/he did not work at least 15 days in the month

  = 5 13  

TOTAL
Work Experience

= 6 1  

Not all applicants provide complete time frames; they may present their work experience in various formats or with varying detail. The following calculation methods are used:

(1)     Month and Year are Provided 

If no day of the month is given, use the first day of each month to determine beginning and ending dates of employment. An example is found below:

June, 1999 – June, 2001

OR 6/1999 – 6/2001 = 24 months or two (2) years
June, 2000 – May, 2001 OR 6/2000 – 5/2001 = 11 months
June 1, 2000 – May 31, 2001 OR 6/1/2000 - 5/31/2001 = 12 months or one (1) year

(2)     Only Year(s) are Provided

If the applicant only provides the year(s) of employment, give credit from December of the beginning year to January of the ending year. Subtract the starting date from the ending date. An example is found below:

2001-2002

=

December, 2001 to January, 2002

Two (2) months

1998-2001

=

December, 1998 to January, 2001

Two (2) years and one (1) month

Full-Time v. Part-Time Work

To receive credit for full-time employment, an applicant must have worked at least 35 hours per week. Part- time work experience is pro-rated using 40 hours per week as “full-time” for computation.

20 hours per week for six months = three months of full-time work credit

If an applicant indicates hours worked as a range, such as 10-20 per week, give credit at the midpoint of the hours.

Hours varied from 10-20 per week = 15 hours credit

Please reference the FTE & Standard Hours Conversation Chart for additional examples.

Concurrent Employment

If an applicant worked more than one job simultaneously, experience in all of the jobs may be used to qualify the applicant, provided the duties are appropriate to the job classification and can be verified. The actual hours worked in each job must be calculated.

Overtime

Overtime hours may not be counted in qualifying an applicant. If an applicant worked 50 hours per week, credit is given for full-time work – or 40 hours per week.

Internships/Cooperative Education/Volunteer/Trainee Work Experience

In qualifying an applicant, all of these situations are considered valid work experience if they are directly related to the job, and if the applicant specifies the dates and hours worked.

Military Work Experience

Military work experience is considered valid if substantiated with discharge documentation (DD-214). In some cases, military experience is so diverse that granting full-time credit for it would be inappropriate. Under these circumstances, contact your Recruiting HR Partner, Branch Campus HR or USF Health for assistance.