I generally interpret “X years experience” as a rough indicator of what responsibilities are expected of a potential hire. If a role is looking for 2 years expe

I generally interpret “X years experience” as a rough indicator of what responsibilities are expected of a potential hire. If a role is looking for 2 years experience or less, I’d probably expect to be an individual contributor. Approx 5 years and level of responsibility grows, etc etc. This isn’t true of every role, and I agree with OP that taken alone years experience is an insufficient decision point for bringing on a candidate (IMO no single axis is a sufficient decision point for a yes, but some single axes are decision points for a no, like inappropriate behavior during an interview). However, as a heuristic for both a hiring team to optimize the greatest number of qualified candidates applying and for qualified candidates deciding whether they want to apply, it’s a useful indicator.