When we're briefed on a senior communications or policy role, clients often tell us they want someone who has done the exact same job in their sector. We understand why. It feels lower risk. But in our experience, this approach can make hiring harder and limit the quality of your shortlist.

At Ellwood Atfield, we work across corporate, membership, NFP, regulatory, and government sectors. We see the same talented professionals move successfully between them. The skills that make a strong Director of Communications or Head of Public Affairs are remarkably portable. What differs is context, and context can be learned.

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Why cross-sector hires work

Candidates who move between sectors bring methods and ideas from outside your organisation's usual frame of reference. They ask different questions. They challenge assumptions that internal teams have stopped noticing. And because they've already navigated one sector transition, they tend to be comfortable with ambiguity and organisational change.

Hiring only from within your sector shrinks your talent pool to people who look and think like your existing team. It can reinforce an echo chamber where everyone shares the same assumptions and blind spots. Widening your search reduces competition for the same candidates and often surfaces stronger options.

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How we manage risk in the search process

Clients sometimes worry that a cross-sector hire won't understand their operating environment quickly enough. It's a fair concern, and one we address directly during the search process.

We look for candidates with strong core capabilities: strategy, stakeholder management, governance, the ability to manage complexity and influence senior leaders who don't come from a communications background. These skills transfer. The sector-specific knowledge, the jargon, the regulatory landscape, can be picked up in the first few months with the right onboarding and support.

The question we encourage clients to ask isn't "Have they done this exact job in our sector?" but "Can they learn our context quickly and bring something we don't already have?"

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Using interim appointments to test the approach

If you're uncertain about hiring from outside your sector for a permanent role, an interim appointment can be a sensible first step. We often advise clients to consider the interim vs permanent question carefully when they're open to a cross-sector candidate but want to manage risk.

An interim allows you to bring in senior capability quickly, test how the person adapts to your environment, and build confidence before committing to a permanent hire. Interims are typically delivery-focused professionals who are used to getting up to speed fast.

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How skills translate across sectors

The vocabulary changes, but the underlying competencies often don't. "Client management" in an agency becomes "stakeholder engagement" in a public body and "member relationships" in a trade association. Someone with agency experience brings pace and the ability to deliver under pressure. Someone from in-house corporate brings depth, commercial awareness, and experience influencing at board level. Someone from the charity sector brings mission alignment and the discipline of working with constrained resources.

When we're working on a brief, we help clients see these connections. Part of our role is translating experience from one sector into language that resonates in another.

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Reframing the brief

If you're working through how to hire a comms director or senior policy leader, we'd encourage you to think about what outcomes you need rather than what sector background you expect.

A brief that focuses on delivering reputation recovery, building a high-performing team, and operating credibly at board level opens up a much stronger candidate pool than one that insists on five years in your exact sector.

We're not suggesting you ignore sector experience entirely. But we'd encourage you to weigh it against learning agility, cultural alignment, and the fresh perspective a cross-sector hire can bring.

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If you're navigating a senior hire and wondering whether to look beyond your usual talent pool, we'd be happy to talk it through. We can help you think about what's realistic for your role and timeline, and where widening the search might strengthen your shortlist.

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Get in touch at hello@ellwoodatfield.com or call us on 020 7340 6480.