How Important is Industry Experience?

A potentially damaging trend in recruitment is the amount of emphasis put on candidates having industry experience.

This refers to employers only considering candidates that have worked in their company’s industry before. Some will take this further, asking only for candidates that have worked in their niche within that industry.

While certain positions need candidates with industry experience, the majority do not. Instead, recruiters should search for candidates with transferable skills and experience completing tasks similar to those they will complete in the open position, even if in a different industry.

While cross-industry recruiting is seen as a risk, it brings many benefits. Additionally, excluding those without industry experience may cause you to eliminate the best all-around candidate.

In this blog, we question just how important industry experience is. We also offer some tips for those looking to hire candidates without industry experience.

Why Hire from Inside Your Industry?

Hiring from inside your industry is seen as less of a risk. Candidates that have completed the open position’s responsibilities in the same sector give recruiters more confidence that they’ll be successful in the role. 

Great candidates with all the required experience except experience in the industry are seen as riskier to hire. Recruiters may think that these candidates won’t be able to translate previous success to the hiring company’s industry. 

The common opinion is that those with industry experience can add value instantly without much training. These employees should simply need to get up to date with the way the company does things and their client list.

Accepting only candidates with industry experience can actually mean you miss out on the best person for the job.

Is Industry Experience Really Necessary When Hiring?

These days, a lot of employees are more interested in the actual job than the industry. Or, if they are interested in specific industries, there are a few industries they would like to work in. It’s therefore likely that employees will move into similar roles between different industries.

Yes, industry experience should be seen as a plus for candidates that have it. But it shouldn’t be a prerequisite unless absolutely necessary. Industry experience for most should be added to the “pros” column for those employees that have it. But still weigh up everything else against other candidates. 

Experience is of course necessary. Candidates need to meet the majority of your qualification and experience requirements. Ideally, they will have previously executed the majority of the open position’s tasks and held its responsibilities. 

But having no industry experience is often not an issue. Candidates who have never worked in your industry can still adapt and excel.

Transferable Skills

It’s important to focus on transferable skills when assessing candidates. Ultimately, you’re looking for a certain skill and experience set. Experience in your industry is a bonus on top of that.

Possessing the required skills and experience, even if in a different industry, shows that the candidate can complete the tasks you need them to.

Dismissing candidates with the transferable skills you need but no industry experience means you’re eliminating great candidates who could be an asset to your team. There’s a good chance that these candidates could even perform better than those with industry experience.

At the end of the day, most skills that employees have and the tasks they complete have nothing to do with industry. Qualified candidates should be able to transfer their skills to a new industry and catch up on industry-specific information easily.

Limited Innovation

Hiring only employees with industry experience can limit innovation within your company. Employees without industry experience can bring a fresh perspective. 

They may see things in your industry that are out of date, for example, and have experienced this before and know how to adjust and adapt. Or, they may be better at spotting opportunities quickly as they’ve seen similar situations arise before in their last industry. 

Hiring only those with industry experience on the other hand could hinder development and growth. People from the same industry don’t have many other points of reference, especially if they have been in this industry a long time or have only ever worked in this industry. 

Having a mix of employees with and without industry experience is optimal. You benefit from the fresh ideas of those new to the industry while still getting the industry know-how of employees who have been in the sector a while.

Hiring only from inside your industry can hinder innovation greatly.

Missing Out on Top Candidates

Limiting applications to just those with industry experience will likely mean you miss out on outstanding candidates. 

For a large majority of positions, industry-specific things can be taught. Many employees can easily adjust to doing “what they do” for a new type of company and industry. 

For example, an employee could adjust easily to creating email campaigns for a personable lifestyle brand having come from a corporate finance company where they did this. The same goes for communicating with different types of clients, among other things. 

Due to this ability to easily adapt, eliminating candidates without industry experience will probably mean you lose out on hiring the overall top candidate.

When Is Industry Experience a Must?

There are, of course, exceptions to this. Some positions do need industry experience. 

This is especially true if you’re hiring someone as an “expert”. For example, a medical company looking to hire a certain type of doctor to give advice in a blog series would only be able to consider those with that specific industry experience.

Some positions that require very technical skills will also need industry experience. However, for most corporate positions, transferable skills are the most important thing to consider.

For most corporate positions, transferable skills are the most important thing to consider.

Tips for Hiring Without Industry Experience

If you are considering hiring candidates without industry experience or, the following tips will help make this process easy and successful. 

Look at Candidate History

When deciding on candidates without industry experience, look at their past changes in industry. 

It will be quite easy from resumes to see the industries candidates have worked in. If they have moved industry, does their resume description of this position and the time spent there suggest this move was a success? 

You can also call references after interviews to specifically ask how candidates adjusted to a change in industry.

Talk to Your Current Staff

It’s unlikely that all your current staff had industry experience coming into their current position. Even if they did, it’s unlikely all your staff have always been in that industry having changed into your industry at some point. Most entry-level employees and interns will have been new to your industry too. 

Talk with those staff members that previously moved into the industry without sector experience. Ask how easy it was to adapt to the industry and if they think someone from outside the industry could succeed in the open position. 

This will likely mitigate concerns about hiring someone from outside the industry. You’ll also be able to use staff responses to understand how they adapted to the industry. This information can be used to aid new recruits in getting up to date with the industry quickly.

Don’t Focus Too Much on Industry Niches

As discussed, limiting your choice of candidates to just those with industry experience can cause you to miss out on the best candidate. This is even more true if you take it further and request experience in a certain niche; Again, unless you're hiring for an expert type position.

For example, if you are hiring for an editor position at a natural beauty magazine, don’t limit acceptable candidates to those that have worked at natural beauty magazines before. This is so specific that you are unlikely to get as many well-qualified candidates as you would if you asked for those with general beauty magazine experience or just magazine or editing experience.

Of course, mention that industry and niche experience will be seen as a plus. But both job postings and candidate assessment don’t put too much emphasis on this.

Look at candidate resumes to see if they’ve moved industry before and if that move was successful.

Tips for Candidates Without Industry Experience

If you’re a candidate trying to get into a new industry, keep the following tips in mind to make up for your lack of industry specific experience.

Attempt to Get Industry Experience

If there’s an industry you specifically want to work in, try to get experience even if that’s limited.

There are a few ways you can do this. This includes trying to find a freelance project in that industry. Even if this project is brief, it will show that you can adapt instantly to the industry.

You could also create your own project to show how your skills transfer to the industry.

Highlight Your Experience, Skills, and Ability to Adapt

If you have no or limited experience in the industry you’re applying to, use your application to highlight why you’re still perfect for the position. 

This includes highlighting how your skills and experience are exactly what they’re looking for. When doing this, mention ways you are overqualified for the position if applicable. This will give you extra “points” to make up for those lost due to lack of experience. 

Also mention how you’ve adapted before. If you’ve already moved industry, mention this and show that you succeeded. Even if you haven’t moved industry before, you’ll likely have been new to the industry you began your career in. Again, use this to show how you succeeded without much prior knowledge of the industry.

Mention Your Passion for the Industry

Try to highlight your love of the industry in your application too. While you will mainly do this in your cover letter (and if you get to an interview), you can add a section at the end of your resume stating “Personal Interests''. Use this section to mention the industry there as well as any hobbies relating to it.

In your cover letter, mention your passion for the industry. Include details such as how long you’ve been interested in it and why you are so interested in taking on a role in the sector.

In Conclusion

In certain cases, industry experience is a must. However, for the majority of recruitment cases, it is not. In fact, excluding candidates without industry experience can result in you missing out on the best applicant for the job.

When conducting cross-industry recruitment, use each candidate’s application to determine if they have successfully moved industry before. Of course, also ensure each candidate meets the qualification requirements you have requested. 

Ultimately, a candidate that proves they are adaptable and has strong transferable skills should be a great fit for the open position, even if they lack experience in your industry. These employees may even bring external knowledge that others in your industry don’t possess which can result in growth and increased efficiencies. 

If you are interested in considering candidates from outside your industry but are concerned about making the right hire, Lynne Palmer can help. We have experience connecting the best candidates with companies, which includes assessing who is the overall best fit for your position, even if that candidate has not worked in the industry before.