As the industry ponders how best to increase diversity, companies are looking further afield for new talent in a bid to improve the gender balance of their workforces.
When Pentasia was asked for a panel at ICE London to put together a presentation on how the gaming industry could foster more diverse and inclusive environments earlier this year, its starting point was to survey its extensive database of senior gaming executives on how their companies were tackling this issue.
One response Pentasia chose to highlight in its presentation was: “As a company we are looking outside the industry for people with drive and interest, rather than only gaming-specific experience.”
It may be an obvious point, but given that the gaming industry has a long-established gender diversity issue, there’s little chance this will ever change unless companies are willing to hire people who don’t have experience in the industry.
“We are now more often being given briefs by medium-sized and tier one gaming companies that specify we must produce a diverse shortlist,” he says. “In such cases, we will usually point out that they may need to be willing to consider candidates from outside gaming and in most cases they are.”
“This is especially true for roles that are industry agnostic, for example, in HR, finance, tech and operations. Where it gets trickier is when the role is something like a casino product director – these roles will typically still require industry experience.”
Transferable skills
Andrea Talreja, head of HR at affiliate and white label operator QiH Group, says QiH Group has a similar view.
“For a regulatory or compliance role, industry knowledge is vital, especially with the changing legal landscape in our biggest market of the UK,” she says. “But there are some roles where experience from other industries can be just as useful – digital marketing for one.
“In fact, sometimes we’ve found that not only can being open to such candidates help improve our gender balance, it can also bring fresh thinking into the company.”
