As the tech space continues to grow, companies are adding more entry-level positions to their team. However, the focus has largely been placed on internships and college graduate programs, despite there being a whole other talent pool that is often missed — those who are changing careers. Why hire someone who’s entering tech from another field? Here are four important benefits that career switchers can bring to your company.
Career Switchers bring diverse perspectives
Having a diverse team is key to strengthening your company and its work. After all, if everyone comes from the same background, with similar education and work experience, things can be missed that otherwise would have been seen with different sets of eyes. Take musician-turned-coder Matthew, for example. According to him, “I saw a lot of parallels between what coding was, and what my experience as a musician was. It was really creative, really fun to do, and once I started going to [coding] classes, I really fell in love with it.” And the fiscal benefits of having this diversity is apparent, with one study showing that inclusive companies are more innovative and 120% more likely to hit financial goals.
Career Switchers offer skills you didn’t know you needed
Many applicants may have the skills to satisfy the needs of your specific role, but career-switchers bring additional skills to the table that can help them execute on a different level than others. Perhaps someone is a former energy conservation program manager, like Natalie, and can bring organization and management skills to the team. Or maybe like Christine they had previously worked in sales and can add their communication skills to the table. Having those with experience outside of coding allows you to have a broader array of talent at hand, rather than a team stocked with people who only know coding.
Career Switchers are adaptable
If there’s one thing you can say about career switchers, it’s that they’re able to learn new skills. And with an industry as dynamic as tech, having people on your team who can adapt along with the times is incredibly important. As Adam — who made the switch to tech after being laid off from his previous job — said, a lot of his training was “teaching yourself to continue to learn. Because with software, it’s just such a constantly changing field. You really don’t just stop when you’ve learned something, you continue to learn new things constantly. And at Flatiron [the coding bootcamp he attended], what’s really good about them is teaching you to go in with the mindset ‘you’re going to learn something new every day.’”
Career Switchers are intentionally motivated to grow
Behind that ability to learn new skills is the motivation to grow. Many people make career changes because they want to advance beyond their current situation, and they can bring that same mindset to help your team grow as well. After making the switch to tech from photography, Luis said: “once I made the decision to do a [coding] bootcamp is when I really felt a transition from going through the motions — you know, you’re supposed to do high school, you’re supposed to go to college, you’re supposed to follow this set path — and I feel like that’s really when I took control of what I wanted to do.” Career switchers know that improvement takes action, and they are willing to take those actions.
Interested in how you can reach more career switchers for your team?
Click the button below to learn about hiring from ClimbTalent — a network of career switchers, upskillers and career-advancers.