As I transition between sectors, I’m faced with a recurring question during meetings.
Do you have sector specific experience? This role has to work closely with our XX department so sector experience is a must, can’t help but think about how corporates keep their selection process limited to a certain set of sector knowledge and pre-requisites.
It is like a person born vegan, someone who has never had the chance to experience the different tastes this earth has to offer and the same applies for selecting a professional team. Cross-sector recruiting can bring in fresh perspectives and innovation, helping marketing teams to grow in their knowledge, expertise and outlook, it simply gives companies the power to experience different combinations of skills and knowledge to help unlock new innovations in whichever value this limitless universe contains.
Choosing to stick to certain competencies within any industry is like going vegan, don’t get me wrong I have huge respect for vegans, because they chose to be vegans after they have experienced all tastes of life and developed certain values, but choosing to shy away from a whole new spectrum of ideas formed by different combinations of sector experiences out there, that would add undeniable value to any corporate fabric, is like being born vegan, it comes with significant risks.
With all these pre-requisites and standardized job descriptions, we are reaching the point of repetitiveness where even innovation is being orchestrated and homogenized.
People in the corporate world are rarely praised for being themselves, now you have to be usual to fit in, not to mention the gender stereotypes that follow, it is often easy to shy away huge talents due to their gender.
From the Sanna Marin’s scandal to Lisa LaFlamme scandal, the year 2022, as we have seen so far is marking a shameful regression in embracing diversity and uniqueness, not mentioning gender equality.
Reflecting on personal experiences, the cons of corporations following certain guidelines, dress codes, and being more discrete about embracing different ideas, even out the pros.
I am gratefull for the evolution of mankind and for the categorization of the corporate world, but being able to express new opinions in the workplace would cultivate growth of any sector to unforeseen heights and encourages a sense of purpose. Although, it is far from reach with these pre-standardized procedures and stiff guidelines being put in place, but it is not impossible, after all landing on the moon was only possible through cross sectorial efforts.
A computer coder sharing a space with psychologist or a communications specialist can create codes that that would bring human-machine interactions to unprecedented discoveries. I mean a company will eventually make those machines capable of decoding and understanding human emotions by pairing different sector experiences.
The world is full of possibilities and we can mostly get them if we pair things that are unlikely to go well together, like caramel and salt, same goes for experiences.
In the end it all boils down to being unconventional in the selection process, no matter how systems thrive on standard procedures, humanity never evolved without embracing change and thirst for growth should be the scale into which a person’s success is evaluated rather than specific sector experience.
