Job experience correlates of job performance.

Although measures of job experience are frequently-used screening devices in the selection of em-ployees, personnel psychologists have devoted little attention to their usefulness. This article quanti-tatively summarizes data on the relation between job experience and job performance from a total sample of 16,058. The correlation between job experience and job performance was found to be moderated by two variables: length of experience and job complexity. The highest correlations were obtained in populations with low mean levels of job experience and for jobs that place low levels of cognitive demands on employees. Results appear to be consistent with the causal model of job performance proposed by Schmidt, Hunter, and Outerbridge (1986). Personnel psychologists have devoted substantial resources to the study of the relation between measures of mental ability and job performance. Large amounts of validity data have been accumulated in the research literature. Quantitative reviews of this literature (Callender Osburn, 1981; Hirsh, Northrop,