Hire for potential, not experience: CEO Margo Purcell
This story was previously aired on CBC Calgary by education reporter Lucie Edwardson on Nov. 10/21
An Alberta company recently recognized for its leadership in helping develop the province's tech talent ecosystem is encouraging the industry to work together to develop job opportunities for talent new to the sector.
InceptionU CEO Margo Purcell says they can do that by offering paid internships, providing mentorship to help developing talent gain experience and by advocating for funding for upskilling initiatives.
"How do we start to hire for potential rather than for experience, because the experience, the experience talent is, generally speaking, they're already hired. And so how do we address the need for talent with the existing talent that does exist, adding new skills on so that they can really be those amazing contributors to building great companies here?"
Purcell says shifting to this mindset in the sector will help the province diversify quicker, and help the city meet its goal of creating 45 thousand new positions by 2031.
"We have quite a few people who have come from other careers and whether it was because of COVID or whether it was because of the downturn that had taken place before that, that there's no longer the same opportunity for them in their previous fields. And so they'll often have things like project management. Perhaps it was done in the energy sector, perhaps it was done in the hospitality sector, or maybe they have customer success experience in other sectors."
Career pivots are possible and necessary if we are going to fill the jobs of the future. Reach out to learn more about our programs and funding opportunities.
