For Jennifer Dulski, hiring candidates who've served in the exact type of role she's looking to fill is not a priority.

The founder and CEO of Rising Team, which sells programs for team development, and former executive at both Google and Meta, has hired "probably thousands of people" in her career, she says. She adds that, at Rising Team, "in zero of our job descriptions will you ever see the term 'X years experience' doing ' XYZ.'"

Dulski has found this strategy works. She's hired many people who have not had exactly the same job before, she says, and "fewer than 5% of them have failed."

Here's why she believes in this philosophy and what she recommends jobseekers do to stand out.

Finding people 'who haven't had the same set of opportunities'

Dulski believes only looking for people who served under the same title limits her ability to find talent.

It "really narrows the window, both from people you can find and also narrows the window to people who haven't had the same set of opportunities," she says. The latter might be discouraged to apply, even if they might be perfect for the role.

That doesn't mean she's hiring people who've never done anything related to the role. "They do need to have done something similar, right?" she says. Their experience just doesn't have to be a carbon copy of the job she's hiring for.

Most recently, Rising Team was looking for a chief of staff. Among Dulski's priorities for the person they hired was that they could manage large projects, stay on top of numerous details and build strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders.

"While some people had delivered those outcomes previously as a chief of staff," she says, "others showed they had delivered against those objectives as a product or project manager, or even in more 'far afield' careers, like film production."

Of the final six candidates for the role, three had been chiefs of staff in the past and three hadn't.

'Send more than what's asked'

If you want to apply for a role that's not exactly what you've done historically, Dulski recommends doing a bit of extra work to get noticed.

Rising Team got 800 applicants for the chief of staff role, she says, with most people sending only what was asked of them.

"There were many people, though, who sent a video even before we asked for one or made a creative deck and sent it to us about themselves," she says. One person sent a user manual describing how they like to work.

None of these candidates had served in the role before but all had some relevant experience and used the extra material they sent in to explain why they would be successful. In an incredibly crowded process, they were the ones who stood out.

Dulski ultimately hired someone who'd never served as chief of staff before.

"The job market is tough out there, and I realize people are having to apply to lots of jobs," she says. When it comes to going the extra mile, though, "I would say it's still worth it, especially for the jobs you're most excited about."

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