When looking for a new employee, a common complaint among Small Business owners is that they can’t find anyone with adequate experience. Conventional wisdom states that individuals with experience in the field will be easier and quicker to train and perform better. I couldn’t disagree more! From what I’ve seen, the “experienced” employee is carrying more baggage than an airline porter on Thanksgiving weekend. viagra online usa cheap https://businesswomanguide.org/capstone/margaret-mead-essays/22/ applying to law school the second time with same essay imodium viagra can i get someone to write an essay for me amoxicillin 250 use man in the water essay copy essays on old testament history and religion https://willcoxwinecountry.org/linkedin/ngarimu-vc-essay-competition/47/ https://www.getthereatx.com/capstone/250-words-essay-sample/7/ click a world without cell phones essay https://greenacresstorage.net/where-to-buy-divorce-papers/ viagra preis brasilien lancia thesis usb cheap dissertation introduction ghostwriters services for masters school days are the best days of your life essay watch argumentive paper research topic go here https://independentfutures.com/overview/1973-new-york-state-12th-grade-english-regents-exam-essay-subjects/57/ see follow side effect women taking viagra viagra mellkhatsai essay on current status of women in india https://laralafayette.org/classes/how-to-compose-a-narrative-essay/91/ powerpoint slide templates creating a marketing proposal coursework essays on hatchet by gary paulsen how to buy levitra online This is why, in my opinion, potential employees from other fields and market sectors are your best bet:
- They don’t have industry standard (that’s code for “ineffective”) approaches to old problems. You’ve heard me say that Small Business ownership is really just a continual series of problems presenting themselves for solution. Frequently we keep trying to (unsuccessfully) solve these problems the same way. Someone who hasn’t been exposed to these repeated failed attempts has the capacity to look at the problem from a fresh perspective and come up with a more creative, and results-oriented, answer.
- They won’t accept deficiencies. I have a door in my house that always falls off the hinges every time I try to open or close it. Finally, I stopped closing that door, and my problem went away. Well, a few months ago a house guest, not being aware of the true decrepitness of my home, tried to close the door with calamitous result. He looked at me and was like, “Why don’t you get that fixed?” Well, duh. But, for me the situation had become normal. The same thing happens with our Small Business paradigms. We become complacent. An individual coming from outside the industry will recognize a default for what it is – an obstacle to doing better business – and challenge you to address it.
- They may be familiar with new technology not yet applied to your field. Toyota is running a great ad campaign right now exemplifying how technological advances developed for the automobile industry are crossing over into other areas, like crash mechanics applied to football helmets. An employee can introduce to your Small Business similar new applications for existing technology they may have used in their former line of work.
- They may not have bad habits typical to the industry. When we opened our Small Business, Bottle Washer was adamant that, except for our professional staff, we not hire anyone who had worked in our field. Office personnel in our type of business are notoriously not customer-centric, and Bottle Washer is all over customer service like a fashionista on a Prada sale. He wanted to train our staff to his expectations. As a result, our customers always comment on the unanticipated level of attentiveness and friendliness of our staff.
- They may be more open to your way of doing things. If an employee can’t compare their current job with their last one, they are less likely to whine the dreaded “We didn’t do that when I worked at blah-blah-blah.” This is especially appreciated if you tend to do things outside of the box or need to maintain especially high standards. For instance, a Small Business with high compliance requirements which it takes seriously cannot afford to have an employee falling back on shoddy habits from a less-stringent previous office.
The idea of hiring from outside your industry is not new. Paul Hawkin (the garden tool guy) writes about it in his book Growing a Business. (This is a book I have found particularly helpful and highly recommend for every business owner’s nightstand.) He calls this practice hiring the person, not the position, and has some different reasons for doing it, but the concept is the same. Although it isn’t always appropriate to hire an individual without experience in your industry, it has worked well for Bottle Washer and I.
Do you tend to value experience in the same or related field when hiring your employees, or do you try to hire those from other industries? How has it worked out for you?