Why the agency(?) obsession with $industry experience?

[jjdarg]

I've even found having worked in the industry but not recently has had a client throw out my CV. This is the worst in investment banking (I once ran IT support for a bank in Frankfurt, supporting just about every conceivable business within, but that isn't considered relevant IB experience as it's not recent) and insurance (which is ironical, as insurance moves at a snail's pace and is mostly back office work which isn't all that much different from back office work in other industries).

It isn't the agents specifying it, it is the clients. I've been called by 8 different agents for one job, because you could have written the job spec from my CV, and when I was submitted, the client said I didn't have relevant industry experience.

I even had someone ring me about whether I had experience of what I do, but with smart metering; the client wasn't going to look at any CVs that did not have smart metering. I said to the agent, good luck with that, there might be 6 people in the country who have done that.

[SueEllen]

Let's be frank here, this applies to all agents, all non-technical managers of which about 90% fall into this category.

The secret to sucess in this game is to get used to explaining space flight to four year olds without laughing or condensation.

Think you mean "condescension" rather than "condensation"

There is normal not understanding and there is the extreme thickness.

The younger ones tend to fall into the latter category.

[BolshieBastard]

In the vast majority of cases, its just agency bollocks about having previous experience in......

In my time, Id worked in utilities, finance, insurance and COTS etc. Sometimes in utilities you'd come across must have gas or electric or billing experience. Similarly in finance, must have corporate or retail banking, credit cards etc.

I know one sap who has been in pharma for the last 10 years. He tried moving sectors because AZ were moving all their stuff from Macclesfield down to Cambridge but couldnt. He'd been pigeon holed by agencies.

Utterly ridiculous most of the time.

[MyUserName]

I got into banking as a permie with a company who did not require previous experience, just a good programmer. After a few years there I knew various things about finance.

I moved to contract in a different investment bank and got through the filters due to my experience. Once I was there the experience was not really relevant as I was just coding a 3 tier application with a large user base. I could have done it just as easily with no finance experience at all.

I moved to a new bank and the cycle repeated. Experience got me in and was then irrelevant, they didn't even ask anything about it at the interview.

[Eirikur]

WSWS.

Also there are younger agents who don't understand what work you were doing, even if you explain it in terms a 14 year old understands, so they don't understand how the same skills are transferable to another industry.

WSES
They don't understand that, let's say, a VMware specialist needs the same skills to work in finance, in telecoms or in retail.
End clients do understand it, but the trick is to get past the ignorance of the pimp and in front of the end client

[cherhill]

It doesn't really matter for most jobs, I guess BA roles though it could be quite important. Although from my experience most BA's are pretty useless.

Banking seems to be the worse for it. I have worked in most sectors bar banking as never seem to get a look in.

Market forces is the biggest factor though. When there are a lot of applicants they will filter people out.

Don't think you can say it is the agents either, it will be the clients who produce the criteria they are looking for.

[SimonMac]

The only industry that is "obsessed" is finance and I think this is one of the problems with the industry, deep rooted beliefs in tradition at the cost of progress

[darmstadt]

I think this matters in what area you work in. I get asked it quite often and I have to explain that it doesn't matter for what I do as its the same in whichever field I work in. I would think that for financials, particularly banking then it can be quite important

[TykeMerc]

I would agree that the NHS is an outlier, but you are 100% right that there isn't much difference in terms of industry. I think it's been a case of too many applicants, so its just a first pass filter for a lot of agencies and clients. It increases the chance that someone in the organisation will know you. As the market tightens up over the next year this will be relaxed.

I agree, first or even last pass filter (subset line of business experience). In reality there's always a bit of acclimatisation at a new client and beyond specialist language and acronyms the "culture" is rarely that different.

[SueEllen]

I would agree that the NHS is an outlier, but you are 100% right that there isn't much difference in terms of industry. I think it's been a case of too many applicants, so its just a first pass filter for a lot of agencies and clients. It increases the chance that someone in the organisation will know you. As the market tightens up over the next year this will be relaxed.

WSWS.

Also there are younger agents who don't understand what work you were doing, even if you explain it in terms a 14 year old understands, so they don't understand how the same skills are transferable to another industry.

[Zero Liability]

I would think because they assume it proves you can do the job and makes you an easier sell to the client, and there will be fewer culture shocks. Particularly since the client isn't looking for someone to shape and mould over the longer term, but at an individual fielded by your company providing them with services of a specific nature.

[jmo21]

I think it can be.

Financials definitely.

Often industry experience is because there is such a cultural shift.

Working in the NHS versus an investment bank can be quite a culture shock.

But there is plenty 'in between' where it shouldn't matter at all.

And even then companies over egg industry experience when it really is no necessary, thinking they are somehow special.

[vwdan]

This isn't really a rant or anything, because I suppose I've benefited from this myself in its own ways. But, in the contract market especially, I see a lot of job adverts that want you to have experience in whatever field the job is for - banking, investment banking, insurance, oil and gas etc.

My question is - do you guys really think it matters? Maybe my particular field is unique, but I've worked in a lot of different industries and my implementations haven't really changed that much. The customer attitude changes a lot, but if anything, I've found Public Sector and Charities (Big charities that you'd have heard of, anyway) to be the most demanding clients.

I had to push hard to win my last large project because I'd had no experience in the industry and the PM was really concerned about the high pressure nature of the client - as it turns out, it's been one of my most enjoyable projects to date. There's pressure like every project, but I've not found it any worse than anywhere else - if anything, it's been great because everybody has their tulip together and I can get things done.

So, is my niche the odd one? Is it really important to find a programmer, for example, with experience in a particular industry sector?