According to one theory, the importance of intelligence for job performance fades out with time: as employees gain more experience, less intelligent people catch up to their smarter coworkers. A recent article tested this “convergence hypothesis” and found little support for it.
Across 31 military occupations, the most common finding was that the correlation between IQ and objective job performance measures was constant. That means that across all levels of experience, smarter employees were better at their jobs.
This does NOT mean that experience is unimportant. In fact, for many jobs (especially in the Navy and the Air Force), time in service was a better predictor of job performance than IQ. What this study shows is that IQ and experience usually both contribute to job performance independently; neither variable amplifies or diminishes the other.
What does this mean for employers? Try to hire someone who is smart AND experienced.
Read the article here: https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001150