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At a recent Cambridge Network event I had the pleasure of meeting Megan. Megan works for Innovia Technology, which helps large organisations like Shell, Nike and Proctor and Gamble come up with new product ideas.
According to Megan, these big organisations
recognise that they can make incremental change on their own. But in order to develop new products, ideas
and approaches which will lead to large scale change in what they are doing,
they sometimes bring in people like her - expertise from outside.
So why do so many businesses have concerns
about bringing in people from other industries and sectors to work directly for
them, as often the best ideas come from cutting across disciplinary boundaries
and looking at other fields.
A common frustration among job seekers is
that they are ‘pigeon-holed' by what they have done or who they have worked for
before and employers' resistance to take on people without direct experience in
their sector. If a candidate has been
involved in new product development in say, the food industry, then what prevents
these same skills being effectively applied in biotechnology?
Now I do recognise that recruitment is
fraught with difficulties and most managers want their new recruits to
demonstrate a proven track record in the relevant field so that they can hit the
ground running. A more creative approach
is to look for transferable skills, potential, enthusiasm and attitude.
I do wonder whether the odds of a successful
recruitment, however you define it, are any different where instead of making a
safe bet (is it really? You probably get more of the same!) you hire a
candidate with experience from another sector.
The key things are:
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To ensure the interviewee demonstrates
the skills and attributes you are looking for from their own experience,
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Keep an open mind when rating their
responses, and
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Probe to assess whether the answers
given addresses your concerns about their ability to apply their skills and
experience in your context.
Apart from attitude which I consider to be
THE key differentiator, they may bring with them experience, skills, ideas and
creativity to make that quantum leap that your organisation strives for. Finding new ideas is like prospecting for
gold. If you look in the same old
places, you find empty veins. Yet if you
venture off the beaten track, you'll improve your chances of discovering new
ideas. I am curious as to why this is
widely recognised in terms of product development, but much more rarely in
relation to hiring people. Perhaps it just acknowledges the fact that we all
have a tendency to recruit people like ourselves.
To quote Robert Wieder ‘Anyone can look for fashion in
a boutique or history in a museum. The
creative explorer looks for history in a hardware store and fashion in an
airport'.
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