The average American has 12 jobs in their lifetime.
Some of those employment shifts come from major occupational changes — especially in recent years. According to career insight website Zippia, over half of American workers considered changing their careers in 2020. In fact, some sources — including Forbes and CNBC — suggest that what has been called the Great Resignation is actually a Great Reshuffle, as talented people use this opportunity to change occupations entirely. The end result of this reshuffling is that intelligent, creative people are attempting to break into new industries from unconventional places.
Open-minded company leaders can capitalize on this trend, and Frances Taplett, VP of customer experience at data-driven employment platform Eightfold AI, has done just that.
“We made a recent hire of someone who ran her own yoga business,” said Taplett. “Not the clearest pathway to customer success, but she’s been outstanding. She has that analytical thinking and customer-centric mindset that are the keys to success in this role.”
Hiring that yoga instructor was far from a stretch — other members of Taplett’s team include former teachers and consultants. Eightfold reflects its mission of finding the right career for everyone in the world by hiring those who have skills and potential, rather than looking for specific backgrounds.
In her conversation Built In, Taplett spoke more about the characteristics Eightfold looks for when hiring, along with the training and resources available for new hires and beyond to help them succeed in what could be a brand new career.
Describe the current makeup of your team in terms of professional or educational experience. What kind of unique experiences are represented there?
At Eightfold, we believe in skills. I try to take our company mission of finding the right career for everyone in the world to how I build my team. The current customer success team includes former teachers, consultants and practitioners like TA leaders, along with those who have long-standing experience in customer success.
Beyond the work experience, we have looked to build a team that is reflective of the countries we operate in — with a breadth of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age and other pieces of our lived experiences.
In your experience, what are the steepest learning curves for new hires who come from outside your industry?
I think the steepness of the learning curve is more about the person’s mindset, and less about the industry the person comes from. We do a case interview where we ask finalists to present and think about how they would work with a customer. This is eye-opening in terms of allowing us to see how a person thinks, their comfort with ambiguity and their ability to see around the corner.
I think the steepness of the learning curve is more about the person’s mindset, and less about the industry the person comes from.”
How does your company onboard and support new hires who come from outside your industry?
I am lucky that we have extensive organization-wide training, but we’ve also invested in upskilling our own team. In particular, I’ve asked one of the most senior folks on my team to put a significant share of his time into upskilling new hires and recruits. He is a former TA leader and has spent several years in CS so he does regular office hours, training and objection-handling sessions, and he is an available mentor and thought partner.
In addition, each new hire is added to a smaller team where they can spend a period of time shadowing existing team members and learning the trade. We have found that apprenticeship is the best and most effective way to train our new team members. Lastly, we provide ongoing training — onboarding is the first step, but the learning journey needs to be continuous.
