Why Overlapping Employment Dates Trigger VMS Experience Rejections

You've got a killer candidate, perfect skills, great interview. You add up their experience: 10 years. You submit to the VMS, confident. Then, the rejection comes back: 'Candidate does not meet minimum experience requirements.' What happened? Most likely, your candidate had overlapping employment dates, and the VMS portal's automated system calculated their *overlap-free* experience, which was far less than your manual count. This isn't a bug; it's a compliance feature designed to prevent inflated tenure claims, and it's a nightmare for recruiters who don't account for it.

The Hidden Trap of Concurrent Contracts & Dual Roles

• The Problem: Many candidates, especially in IT, take on concurrent contracts, freelance gigs, or even full-time roles while consulting. They might work 9-5 at Company A and then moonlight 6-10 PM at Company B. When you add up the months or years for each role, you're double-counting the time they were employed simultaneously.
• VMS Logic: VMS platforms like Fieldglass or Beeline use algorithms to calculate *unique* experience. If a candidate worked from Jan 2020 - Dec 2021 at Company A (24 months) and Jan 2021 - Dec 2022 at Company B (24 months), a simple addition gives you 48 months. But the VMS will see the 12 months in 2021 as overlapping and count it only once, resulting in 36 months of *actual* experience.

This is where many 'perfect' candidates get flagged. It's not about dishonesty; it's about how the system interprets the data. Before you even think about submittal, you need to run this check. Tools like our Experience Calculator are built specifically to handle this, giving you the exact overlap-free total in seconds, preventing those frustrating VMS rejections.

How to Audit for Overlap-Free Experience Before Submittal

First, pull up the candidate's resume. List out every employment start and end date. Then, manually (or with a tool) plot these on a timeline. Identify any periods where two or more roles run concurrently. For those overlapping periods, you only count the duration once. For example, if a candidate worked: Company X: Jan 2018 - Dec 2020 Company Y: Jan 2019 - Dec 2021 Company Z: Jan 2022 - Present (Nov 2026) A simple sum is 36 + 36 + 59 = 131 months. But the overlap-free calculation is: Jan 2018 - Dec 2018 (Company X only): 12 months Jan 2019 - Dec 2020 (Company X & Y overlap): 24 months (counted once) Jan 2021 - Dec 2021 (Company Y only): 12 months Jan 2022 - Nov 2026 (Company Z only): 59 months Total overlap-free: 12 + 24 + 12 + 59 = 107 months. That's a huge difference from 131 months and could be the reason your candidate gets rejected for a 10-year minimum role.

This isn't just about avoiding rejections; it's about building trust with your MSPs and clients. Submitting candidates with accurately vetted experience shows you understand their compliance rules. It saves everyone time and keeps your agency's scorecard healthy. Stop guessing and start verifying. You can use our Experience Calculator to get this right every single time, along with other critical checks like Resume Matcher and JD Analyzer to ensure your submittals are bulletproof before they hit the VMS.