A bullet at the top of a resume reads:
- 5 Years Project Management Experience
The number of years of experience shown in position descriptions should add up to the experience claimed. If not, the resume has a problem.
I had one message from a client, years ago, that made an impact: "The candidate claims to have experience in X but quite frankly I saw little evidence of this in their work history!"
Here is a list of explanations for missing experience in resume position descriptions:
- The candidate doesn't have the skill
- The candidate was too lazy to mention the skill in their resume
- The candidate doesn't want anyone to know they have the skill
- The candidate took advice to shorten their resume, and left out important information
None of these reasons count in a candidates favour.
"On a resume, missing information is indistinguishable from lack of experience."