The problem with changing swim lanes

I use the term "changing swim lanes" in a job search to indicate moving away from jobs that utilize your unique experience and skills in some way to apply for "I could do that" jobs - ones you have never done before.

I have known a person here or there who has gotten a job in a new swim lane through a very solid networking contact. But applying to postings this way is a self-defeating strategy. Trust me on this - you haven't felt rejection till you've been rejected for a position that in the back of your mind you "know" you are too good for.

Executive Administrator jobs are quite popular for swim lane jumpers. I have seen applicants who "think they are overqualified so they must be a shoe-in" for these jobs. Some with very impressive bodies of experience in another swim lane: from project and program managers to senior Sales Account Executives to seasoned HR professionals. You name it, everyone in every swim lane seems to think they can do an AE job at the highest levels, and get hired for it.

Sure, they can interact at top levels of the organization and provide customer service. But they are totally discounting the work itself as a profession in its own right, and some very critical requirements of the job description, including: multi-tasking to manage another's schedule and travel; word processing at a fast rate and cranking out Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations like nobody's business...

What they also fail to realize is that they are upping their competition exponentially to include every other lane-jumper from every single walk of life, as well as EA pros who have spent as much time in this profession as they have in their own.

Then when they don't get a call to interview for the job they are devastated. I have to ask, seriously, would you have hired you vs. someone who has held this exact position successfully at a different company?

A friend and business acquaintance who is a senior manager for a very large company is looking for an Executive Administrator. Reviewing the posting on their website I noticed that his job requirements are fairly standard, but include five years as an Executive Administrator reporting to a senior executive.

Believing that there are a lot of quality candidates out there, the hiring manager doesn't want to train a new hire on the particulars of the job, including running the trap line for him as a "C" level manager and the special nuances of scheduling and travel that come with supporting him in doing his massive job in a very large organization. Nor should he need to train at his level... there should be plenty of skilled Executive Administrative professionals who have been promoted over the length of their careers to support higher and higher level managers.

He wants to hire a candidate who has done the job before; someone who has proven success at the same level in a similar sized organization to his own.

You'd think there would be a lot of quality candidates in this job market, but the problem is that his job is also a particularly attractive one to prospective lane-jumpers. He shared with me that the first 150 applicants were ALL people who "wanted to" do the job, but NONE that had done the job before.

He's not interviewing any of the hopeful lane jumpers, because he doesn't have to. There are quality, experienced Executive Administrative professionals out there, and he can wait for one of them.