5 Reasons to Recruit Atypical Profiles

Recently, digitalization, automation, and the emergence of new jobs have disrupted recruitment strategies. Previously excluded from traditional selection processes, unconventional profiles are becoming increasingly interesting today: thanks to their rich and diverse backgrounds, atypical profiles can become a key resource for meeting the new challenges companies face.

An atypical profile is distinguished by a non-linear professional or academic path, such as a career changer or a self-taught professional. They can also be professionals with neuro-atypical profiles. These candidates stand out for the diversity of their experiences and their ability to bring different perspectives to solving problems.

1. The Hidden Assets of Non-Linear Paths

Faced with the recruitment difficulties encountered recently, recruiters are forced to turn to skills-based recruitment, one of the key CV trends in 2024. Unlike more traditional profiles, atypical profiles with non-linear paths are more likely to have developed particularly interesting skills that meet today's needs, including:

• Versatility
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Willingness to learn

Versatility constitutes a competitive advantage in an economic context marked by increasingly short innovation cycles and skills whose life cycles are also reduced.

These candidates with non-linear paths are accustomed to navigating between different sectors or functions and demonstrate versatility and flexibility that are essential today in most sectors. They are then able to transpose skills acquired from one field to another.

Secondly, the varied experiences of these profiles strengthen their professional resilience and willingness to learn. Having often had to overcome obstacles in their path, such as career changes, self-taught learning, or periods of unemployment, they have developed an ability to bounce back more quickly when faced with professional difficulties.

This resilience proves to be a precious asset today to help companies cope with rapid market transformations, while the willingness to continuously train (for example on generative artificial intelligence) guarantees the sustainability of their skills and knowledge over time.

2. The Growing Importance of Soft Skills

Soft skills, those behavioral and relational competencies, are often the strong point of unconventional profiles such as creativity, initiative, problem-solving, or emotional intelligence.

Despite the fact that a traditional CV may not highlight these qualities as much as hard skills, soft skills are becoming increasingly valued by recruiters.

To identify these valuable qualities during recruitment, it is essential for recruiters to adapt their approach during the recruitment process by:

1. Broadening the selection criteria of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) by including more keywords
2. Diversifying selection tools and recruitment tests to better understand the skills of atypical profiles to analyze (games, competency-based interviews, simulations or situational exercises, personality assessments, among others)

Finally, another factor to consider is the probationary period, which can help better reveal the potential of these atypical profile candidates.

In cases where an individual with an original profile seems interesting but lacks an essential skill, know that pre-employment training programs exist to bring the candidate up to speed. These little-known schemes can be an appreciated resource for filling gaps and filling hard-to-fill positions.

3. Motivation and Engagement Sometimes Stronger Than Traditional Profiles

Beyond these valuable behavioral skills, atypical profiles also stand out for another major asset: their high level of motivation.

Aware of the difficulties in convincing recruiters of their compatibility with a position, unconventional profiles are often more determined to prove themselves. They therefore tend to invest fully in their missions and bring new energy to the team and even the company culture.

Moreover, their unique path gives them a different perspective on the company's issues. This new perspective can be the catalyst for major innovations. Many success stories testify to the contribution of atypical profiles in developing creative solutions and questioning established practices.

4. A Less Exploited Talent Pool

By opening up to atypical profiles, recruiters have access to a larger and often neglected talent pool. With competition being less fierce for the moment, recruiters can still find their ideal candidate.

By integrating profiles considered atypical, a company can enrich its teams through the diversity that their different way of thinking brings. However, to attract these unique profiles, recruitment processes must be rethought. Recruiters must:

• Emphasize soft skills or hard skills rather than diplomas and experience limited to the targeted sector
• Write clear and inclusive job offers where these profiles are encouraged to apply by explicitly stating the value placed on diversity of backgrounds
• Post on specialized platforms that target original profiles such as jaipasleprofil.fr, misterbilingue.fr for multilingual profiles more oriented towards international or autypik.fr for committed companies seeking autistic or neuro-atypical people

Recruiters can also establish partnerships with career transition associations or tap into the network of Chambers of Trades and Crafts to make known the needs of companies for whom they recruit. Indeed, to better find qualified talent, you must be creative and ingenious.

5. Potentially Reduced Training Costs

Once these atypical profiles are attracted and recruited, companies can also benefit from an unexpected advantage in terms of training and integration. Thanks to their adaptability and learning speed, they may require less training investment than more traditional profiles depending on the sectors.

Used to adapting to new environments or transitioning from one sector to another, they are often more autonomous and more willing to acquire new skills, particularly in continuing education.

However, like a recruit from a more traditional background, few prove to be immediately operational once hired. It is therefore necessary to take into account the quality of support or mentoring systems to help an atypical profile get their bearings.

Without this, the risk of a failed recruitment can prove costly, being two to three times the initial cost of hiring depending on the positions.

Finally, recruiting atypical profiles represents a strategic opportunity for structures seeking to stand out in a sometimes difficult economic environment. These candidates bring invaluable wealth in terms of transferable skills and diversity of experiences.

The integration of these profiles within teams can lead to increased innovation through questioning traditional approaches. Moreover, they can revitalize company culture and actively contribute to their agility and competitiveness in the market.

Although searching for and integrating these profiles may present certain challenges, a well-thought-out support process will maximize their potential. It is time for companies to dare to change by considering these unique talents as long-term assets worth the investment.