Cross-industry shifts on the rise

New Delhi: What was once an exception in the job market is now turning into a trend as professionals seek opportunities in new, and often unconnected lines of business. Cross-industry shifts are on the rise, and is led by the need for innovative thinking, reports Economic Times.

Mohit Sehgal, a Senior Brand Manager with Nestle and earlier, Godfrey Phillips for nine years, joined Lumax Industries with a mandate to lead the auto lamps company's diversification into travel, hospitality and infrastructure lighting. As Vice President for strategic business development, Sehgal has set up a tour and travel company for Lumax, and says that the best part about his new role is that he gets to question just about everything. "I can challenge what others take for granted. Even questions that sound stupid can set people thinking in a new direction," he says.

"Forty to fifty percent of the candidates I speak to at the middle level are saying "I would prefer to move out of my industry into a new one," says Shiv Agarwal, CEO of headhunting firm ABC Consultants.

Amit Mishra (name changed on request) is a polymer technologist by qualification. After a five-year stint with the Footwear Design and Development Institute in Noida as a technical consultant to companies like Reebok and Nike, Mishra made an unusual move. He joined Maruti Suzuki India in its R&D department, helping design and develops rubber components like door trims, rubber hoses and oil seals for its slew of upcoming car models. "Very few people know of this kind of opportunity," he says.

According to Economic Times, while this has been true of senior managers all the time, it's now happening among those with 6-7 years of experience too. Cross-industry shifts have traditionally been driven by emerging businesses like telecom, retail and real estate where there was no existing talent pool. But this time, it's also led by the need for innovative thinking, says Vinamra Shastri, Partner, strategic services, at Grant Thornton India. "Companies are realizing they need to move out of autopilot mode; they need fresh ideas. People coming in from unrelated businesses bring in more passion to deliver new ideas," he says.

SY Siddiqui, Head-HR at Maruti Suzuki India, says that the logic for hiring from outside the industry is compellingly clear, "We are looking at 'next practices.' What has never happened in auto we can now do by bringing talent from a different sector." Maruti hired people from tractors and fertilizer companies when it began its thrust into hinterland markets a few years ago. "Their knowledge of the rural economy brought an interesting perspective to our largely urban-centric marketing orientation," he says.

For the Future Group, the limited availability of retail talent actually helped build a diverse and flexible culture. It also created a pool of people who were more transferable across roles, compared to internally-bred talent. "People from telecom, for example, have lived with ambiguity for some time, while those from FMCG have worked in a more predictable environment where the business has matured over the years. So bring in both, and you have the mindset of professionals who are both growth and consolidation oriented," says Sanjay Jog, Chief People Officer, Future Group.

While employers appear to be embracing a new paradigm, experts say that it's time for candidates to move beyond talking about past achievements and skills to appeal to recruiters in the new context. Sales targets, market share increase, and growth of a business segment or division could be upstaged by new parameters.