Technology Diversity Recruitment
In today’s modern world of tech employment, one central theme in the news every day is technology diversity recruitment.
It started with the gender pay gap, and now thankfully has spread to race, sexuality, disability, education, affluency and a whole host of other soon-to-be minority factions.
As well as the obvious equality factor, the reason is simple: companies with higher levels of diversity (especially on the board) do better.
Progress?
There’s still a long way to go (especially in the FTSE 100), but already companies that have stayed male, stale and pale have simply died, whilst startups who are blind to discrimination and unconscious bias have flourished.
Think House of Fraser (hello terrible website) vs Just Eat (goodbye terrible takeaway).
So it’s odd that the companies which often supply this marketing technology software – giving their clients competitive advantage – can occasionally be guilty of the very opposite themselves.
Practice What You Preach
We’re talking here about how difficult it is for candidates to move across sectors in the tech industry, with software companies only looking at candidates with software experience – and usually only those with a background in their particular space.
To us at Marketing Moves, it’s narrow thinking. We regularly advise clients who initially take this approach that a lot of marketing skills are very transferrable and it’s also down to culture/personality fit.
Otherwise, we’re stuck in the same position as the graduate who needs prior experience, which only benefits those from affluent backgrounds who can afford to intern for free or use family contacts / the old boy network to get in. And no-one wants to go back to the dark ages.
It’s all just a little bit of history repeating
The result of all this is that software companies are regularly missing out on great candidates. And a new wave of businesses currently behind them in the queue will ultimately benefit. Sound familiar?
What do you think?
Please let us know your thoughts in the comments box below – and don’t worry, it’s more than OK to disagree – that’s the whole point of diversity!
Contact
To discuss in confidence how Melvin and Marketing Moves can support your organisation’s growth, please contact Melvin by any of the means
t. 01932 253352
e. mday@marketingmoves.com
li. linkedin.com/melvindayatmarketingmoves
Not sure that I would omit start-ups from being blinkered. For example, many fintechs are looking not just for sector experience, but technology-specific experience. The perfect fit, as opposed to thinking laterally or creatively around how people can add to the culture, as opposed to matching it perfectly. Also, *some* founders tend to become overly involved, as can’t let go. Those are the roles that you see coming up again and again, which can be a huge waste of time for the candidates and hiring managers / company
This is an issue in Australia across all industries, not just Tech. Unfortunately, companies are a bit myopic, do not understand the art and science of marketing and just want candidates from within the same industry and are rewarded with a marketing team that cannot think beyond what has already been explored. The finance industry is the most insular, only recruiting from within and so they are rewarded with terrible campaigns that lack nuance and are largely an embarrassment to the marketing industry. I have worked as a marketing leader both in Europe and Australia and I am always frustrated… Read more »
Absolutely agree. It is high time ALL companies looked at the skills rather than just pure experience. Many skills are transferable whether to the same marketing position or one that is aligned. Blinkered thinking that one person who has been in the industry for many years would be better than someone with the same skills but a different industry is what leads to Group Think = no innovation.