Just Hire Good People And Train Them.....Unless

There is a lot of talk these days about how companies should just hire good people and train them. After all, we have high unemployment still, and this would be the right thing to do for the greater good, right?

Sure, unless….Unless the best thing for your business or your division is not to just hire and train, but instead to find the person with the skills you need. What’s best for the greater good is for more companies to do better and to grow and get stronger. Many times that means finding the talent you need. If you can’t find the talent you need or if it takes too long or is too expensive, then hiring good people and training may be the solution.

But that is something that each hiring team is going to determine for their specific situation. Orchestrating and promoting what you feel is best for the greater good is backwards and counter productive. What is best for all is for all to follow their best path and do as well as they can. That will take care of the greater good.

Todd Kmiec
Todd Kmiec and Associates
todd@toddkmiec.com

Comment by Randall Scasny on June 6, 2012 at 8:22am: You say: "Sure, unless….Unless the best thing for your business or your division is not to just hire and train, but instead to find the person with the skills you need."

My response: I'll be polite and say this is gobbledegook. Companies have to start training people again. They are losing business by not training them. My first professional job was a 1 year training program in the engineering field. Prior to my hiring, they couldn't find an available candidate so they were losing big money to their competitors. When you train someone for an extended period of timing, they are less likely to jump ship. In the military we called this espirit de corps. Unfortunately, most people don't have it and most companies don't know what it is and that's why companies flop all the time. Another problem is that too many jobs are contract jobs or jobs with small, undercapitalized companies that upon losing a client, start laying off. So the buzz about how all the new jobs are being created in small companies has a downside. Small companies are flimsy entities.

Randall Scasny

http://fs5consulting.com

Comment by Daren J. Mongello on June 7, 2012 at 7:08pm: So basically "business as usual", Todd? I agree with Randall: where is our investment in human capital? It probably went away with pension plans and gold watches.

Comment by Randall Scasny on June 8, 2012 at 8:36am: I'll second that, Daren.

Case in point regarding "hiring for skills."

I have a customer who has an informatics degree and is tri-lingual and is a great interactive copywriter, web content manager with okay coding and design experience. She has a great resume for an early-career professional. Before she purchased my service, SHE RECEIVED NO INQUIRIES ANYWHERE FROM RECRUITERS.

So, I re-launched her job search campaign using my market-positioning system. In 72 hours she had three recruiter inquires. They all were for contract jobs: 6 weeks to 2 months. I told her to wait. She was glad to because she wanted a full time job with benefits like all regular human beings want. And she wanted to develop her skills: training.

Get ready for this: I've worked for her for 6 months. Why? She has received on average 2-3 inquiries per week and ALL WERE FOR CONTRACT JOBS FOR LESS THAN 3 MONTHS. Out of the entire 6 months, she has received only 1 inquiry for a 1 year contract and 2 inquiries for 6 month contracts. Yeah, employers are hiring for skills but they are missing out on a fantastic candidate because they don't want to form a serious commitment with a great candidate. These employers in my opinion are fools. Why the contract jobs? No training, no commitment and employees are simply a commodity, an expense in the liability column of their balance sheet.

Randall Scasny

http://fs5consulting.com

Comment by Daren J. Mongello on June 9, 2012 at 2:24pm: Randall,

The mentality for some has devolved into a race to the bottom. Offshore anyone?

I might have suggested that that your client's search for the F/T job continue while on contract.Contracts can offer income, recent references, better leverage and relevant experience.

Thank you for sharing your insights!

Daren