Am I the right person for this job? The added value of personal disruption

Landing the right job is perceived as being an important component of professional success.

It is assumed that in order for us to be professionally successful we should build upon three fundamental pillars: experience, knowledge, and skill. Although this notion is pretty well established, it may not be the most adequate when it comes to address the current impact of technology in today’s working environment.

First, experience is becoming increasingly less important as the pace of scientific and technological innovation is causing current technologies to become obsolete in relatively short time frames.

Furthermore, the world is much more uncertain today than it used to be in the past, thus, to be experienced at something does not guarantee high performance in fast paced work environments or industries.

Second, knowledge has become universally available as a consequence of the digital age. Today, it is far more important to cultivate the habit of being expeditiously in acquiring new knowledge and implementing on it, rather than just relaying solely on academic degrees or past jobs.

Third, skill is a personal quality that is very hard to evaluate through a resumè. In addition, constant automation of labor is radically transforming the sets of skills needed to excel at any job. Skills can be acquired, and for this reason, the capacity for rapid learning is far more relevant than to be skillful at a specific task.

For the reasons explained above, it has become clear that in today’s world, the ability to learn and adapt, to be resilient, and to connect with others is more important than ever. In other words, emotional intelligence, creativity and growth mindset are highly valuable personal attributes. There the uniqueness of non-traditional career paths or non-linear job changes, what it is called personal disruption.

For example, when I started a company in crop genetics improvement and software development one year before obtaining my PhD in plant genetics, I was creating a personal disruption. Why? Because I’ve disrupted myself by producing a non-linear change in my career from becoming a scientist at an academic setting, to becoming an entrepreneur in a startup company. When taking a break from science and technology either in academy or startup to explore and further develop my artistic ability in abstract painting and design, I am disrupting myself.

Disruptive moves can tell a lot about potential because they show a person’s curiosity, insight, inspiration, willingness and determination, which in turn indicate a search for learning and challenge.

Former Google’s CEO Eric Schimdt in his book ‘How Google works’ highly praised the above personal attributes as guiding principles when recruiting and hiring top talent. Furthermore, they came to define a new breed of employees denominated ‘smart creatives’ as those who are

“… not averse to taking risks, nor are they punished or held back in any way when those risky initiatives fail. They are not hemmed in by role definitions or organizational structures; in fact, they are encouraged to exercise their own ideas. They don’t keep quiet when disagree with something. They get bored easily and shift jobs a lot. They are multidimensional, usually combining technical depth with business savvy and creative flair … smart creatives are experts in doing”

When applying for a job posting, we prospective candidates, are confronted with a dissonance; one that arises from applying to most job listings with requirements of experience, knowledge, and skills as top criteria, but at the same time being fully aware that our personal attributes such as emotional intelligence and growth mindset are more likely to have a bigger impact in fulfilling the specified role. Thus, it is important to recognize that when getting our message across, it is important to distinguish between readiness for the job and potential for further development.

Readiness relates to the fit between the requirements of the position and us at our particular stages of our careers. It rests on our critical competencies and cultural fit. Non-linear job changes can tell a lot about several of our emotional intelligence-based competencies -flexibility, empathy and relationship management- that differentiate starts from average performers in new roles.

Although non-linear job changes may be seen as gap in our career trajectories by recruiters, it is clear that the emotional intelligence attributes gained along our disruption period set us apart from the more traditional or linear candidate applying for the same position. In addition, the same attributes gained are the ones that are more likely to contribute to our potential for further development.

Based on the above, it is important for all aspiring executives, candidates in general and recruiters as well, to think about disruption as job changes that prove an ability to master new companies, new challenges, new strategies, and ultimately a new way of thinking.

References:

Claudio Fernandez-Araoz (2012). Why I like people with unconventional resumes. Harvard Business Review: accessed November 23, 2015.

Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg (2014). How Google works. Grand Central Publishing.

Carol S. Dweck (2006). Mindset. Random House Publishing.