One frustration about working for a small company is the hiring ‘Strategy’.* The process (for general entry-level spots) goes something like this:
1. Realize you should have hired someone 6 months ago
2. Hire the next person you meet that seems suitable
3. Be annoyed 5 years later when you feel like there’s always a shortage of ‘skill’ positions.
4. Hit the sale rack for discarded talent.
The answer to this problem: choose carefully and train. Easy enough to understand.
Recently, I’ve been given the go-ahead to hire an intern. I’ll show ’em how it’s done!
(sigh)
Haven’t much to show for myself. Here’s why I think this is:
1. This process is effing TIME CONSUMING. College career services offices are painfully bureaucratic and only want to talk to a company that hires dozens of MBAs (ka-ching!), not one that might hire an undergrad intern per year. Maybe.
2. Learning is hard! Bumbling through the process with bureaucrats then try and sort out which students are duds? No fun. I remember, from ages past, the ratio of decent-to-disastrous candidates as something like 1-5 or 1-10, and that was from a heavily pre-selected University program.
3. Meeting people is hard. And chumming around with a gang of youths too nervous to flash me a glimpse of their real selves so I can probably reject them outright? Wearying.
4. And all for what? Short term pain, medium term breakeven (probably), long term massive gains. MY discount rate is prohibitive?! My bosses’ discount rates are astronomical by comparison.
Luckily I’m happy to tie myself to the mast with blog posts like this. Need some motivation!
* For small companies in my business, ‘strategy’ is something to do when idleness if forced upon you, the rest of the time, you’re broking/pitching/selling.
Not Unreasonable 