Marketers with non standard backgrounds–people who sit in the blurry intersections of traditional team structures–are unicorn hires in the AI era. And I think more hiring managers will be looking for these people in the next year. I have an incredible friend just kicking off a job search after some epic creative pursuits this past year. She’s spent her career in a variety of roles and creative communities that span events, social, customer storytelling, and content. She’s not the person who has 3 jobs with increasing responsibility in customer marketing on her resume. Her events background is in community building, not field marketing. But is that really what matters any more? In the world of smaller marketing teams, where we’re automating workflows and hiring agents instead of humans to do big parts of our jobs, creativity, pattern matching, and anthropological sleuthing matter more than ever. The ability to break through. The ability to find algorithm arbitrage. I think it’s time to look at people without cookie cutter backgrounds as even stronger hires. I know I’m going to. But…they also have to have a killer answer to “what are the highest impact things you're doing with AI?” that goes beyond producing and editing copy.
As someone with an unconventional career history, I've *definitely* been thinking about how I would/can answer that question. I make it a point to go into each weekly 1:1 prepared to discuss AI experiments, and push myself knowing that I've got that accountability loop. Curious to learn more about the best answers to that Q!
The best hires won’t fit neatly into boxes — and that’s exactly the point.
I'm revelling on that wavy blurry fence for sure. Was a corporate lawyer, got into ghostwriting for emerging tech leaders last year, expanded into broader forms of founder-led marketing this year. Never thought I’d trade legalese for cultural commentary — but here we are, and I’ve never felt more creatively satisfied. I think unconventional skillsets go so beautifully in this era + really give folks a differentiating factor (me 2 years ago would have rejected this sentence with all my might). In the AI space, recent experiments include: – Roleplaying as audience archetypes to pressure-test narrative angles – Building judgment gyms to improve discernment and push past first-draft thinking (v much a WIP)
In baseball, you always need a utility player that can play well in multiple places on the field. I consider my varied background one of the greatest strengths...and something that has kept me from getting bored. 😅
Love this perspective! Sometimes a broader background helps bring fresh ideas to the table, and thinking outside the box is where growth happens. The people who are using AI more creatively are going to excel.
Send her my way!
Hiring managers who keep looking for a perfect resume are about to get smoked by teams hiring wildcards. In an AI-driven market, resourceful/pattern-recognizing builders are an edge, and nonstandard backgrounds, paired with receipts, are an asset.
As someone with a non traditional career path this is refreshing. But at the same time I think recruiters and hiring teams need to keep this in mind as they start hiring more people like this. My career path isn’t traditional so therefore neither is my work experience. Standard cookie cutter questions are challenging for me to answer but that doesn’t mean I’m not qualified. Ask me about creative ways I’ve used AI, solved a problem, or helped lead a project and I can give you a ton of info.
Community-First Marketing Leader | Director of Social, Content & Brand | Building Engaged Audiences & Advocacy Engines That Drive Growth
2moI love this take! Non-traditional/non-linear background here and IMO it’s always helped me see beyond my own individual lane to the broader landscape. And +1 Carmen Vicente—love to hear more about how people are using AI in their workflow.