Should that sentence require the present tense or the past tense?

[Michael E. Galario]

Hi sir Jose!

Good day! 

I would just like to ask about the kind of tense that should be used when one is discussing his/her working experiences to an interviewer.

e.g.

     I have experience in bartending or I had experience in bartending?

My understanding is if you are narrating your personal experiences, then the tense that should be used is in the past tense.However, in the scenario above, I'm thinking of using, "I have experience in bartending" instead of "I had experience in bartending" for the reason that I am thinking of my skill as still existing or is still true at the moment of speaking. For me, it gives a feeling of assurance to the interviewer that whoever says "I have experience in bartending or I have bartending experience still possesses that skill.

Please do give me feedback on this.

Thank you sir.

[Joe Carillo]

Your question actually boils down to choosing between the present tense—“I have experience in bartending”—and the past tense—“‘I had experience in bartending”—when talking about one’s work experience.

Recall that “have” is a present-tense transitive verb that means to obtain or be in the possession of something. Thus, the sentence “I have experience in bartending” conveys the idea that the speaker acquired the experience at some time in the past and continues to be able to do bartending up to the time of speaking. In other words, the state of having that bartending experience hasn’t ended but persists up to the present, so the speaker is confident of putting that experience to good use up to now.

                                         IMAGE CREDIT: DRINKMANILA.COM

In contrast, “had” as the past tense of the transitive verb “have” conveys the sense of having obtained or having gotten possession of something in the past without necessarily retaining it. Thus, the sentence “I had experience in bartending” conveys the idea that although the speaker did get the experience of bartending at some time in the past, he or she might have lost the skill or knack for it so is no longer very confident of being able to put that bartending experience to good use now.

As implied in your observations, there is therefore a semantic wrinkle when one says “I had experience in bartending.” It actually belittles the value of the work experience being invoked by the speaker, and is almost like saying “I experienced bartending but it didn’t amount to much.” This is obviously not the sense that an applicant would want to convey during a job interview.

You are therefore absolutely right that “I have experience in bartending” or ‘I have bartending experience”—both present tense forms—is the grammatically and semantically correct statement to use in this particular situation. Saying it will give assurance to the interviewer that the applicant still possesses that skill and, this being the case, should be seriously considered for the job at hand.

[Michael E. Galario]

Hi sir!

Thanks for making things clear about this topic.

Truly,You are very helpful to me not only to me but to everyone who desires to learn the English language. I do admire the way you explain things. It's very comprehensible. 

By the way sir, just a confirmation, would it be safe to say that what commands the tenses in the English language is the context and the meaning that the speaker/writer would like to convey? Further, if we are to study Tenses in Grammar Books, the Uses of the tenses listed in each book are just mere guides in constructing sentences and these are by no means exhaustive.

Thanks you sir!

[Joe Carillo]

You’re most welcome, youngmentor, and thanks for the compliment!

Yes, definitely, context and sense are what command the tenses in the English language, and the strict prescriptions for them in grammar books are just for stand-alone sentences. In narratives and expositions, there’s great flexibility in the use of the tenses. Indeed, the actual determining factors for tense usage are the point of view and the timeline used by the writer or speaker. In essays, poetry, and fiction, for instance, most writers consistently use the past tense when speaking about things that happened in the past, but every now then, we come across writers who always speak in the present tense and recount everything in the past as if they are happening right at the moment of speaking. This is the stuff that stream of consciousness is made of. What this means is that the tenses are just formal guideposts for us to distinguish between events and things in the past, in the present, and in the future. The tenses are far from absolute, but we need them to make better sense of our own experiences and thoughts as they happen in time and to communicate them contextually and meaningfully to other people.

[brettparchie]

I was able to understand more in English grammar with the help of your site. Thanks!