3 Reasons to ‘hire’ experience
I read an article the other day of reasons to hire people older than yourself. It was written by David Brown, founder and co-CEO of Techstars. He hits the benefits of hiring mature, skilled personnel nicely in his article.
He focuses on the hiring of full time older people. His three points hit the mark but I think some additional commentary is needed. Here is my take on the three reasons (and the benefits to you) of ‘hiring’ experience – not just older people.
1 Focus on the Experience Gain!
David does not put enough emphasis on making sure that you only contract or hire people with the right experience YOU need. Yes, older people have experience, but you need to make sure you can use it. Examine the background, education and work history of anyone you are considering first. Ensure you get someone who can help you avoid mistakes and that might give you shortcuts or lower cost due to experience. Knowledge just for the sake of gaining experience is not a good deal for your company.
2 Get the Right Perspective.
Getting an older person for their different perspective is like asking a grade-schooler to give their opinion on a marketing campaign. Make sure you get someone with the right experience or background to put their views in the right context. Age isn’t what gives perspective; context and work/life experiences do.
3 Focus on the TEAM.
David got this right. Mentoring and teaching what happened before to less experienced people will help the entire organization to improve. Newer people also teaching their older team mates their ideas and concepts also help to focus the exchange of information in a more positive and progressive manner.
Finally, everyone typically writes about hiring full time employees. Why? A less than full time person (contract) will do the job too. You may not need someone for years, but rather can gain very good insight and knowledge in a shorter, say six month period. You could then ramp up the ‘experience gain’ again six months later by engaging with another person, gaining new and different benefits to your company.
Don’t get trapped thinking full time when what you want and need is something best gained in smaller timeframes.
For possible Experience to benefit you, see www.myCxO.ca.
