It's one thing to seek out people to hire with the expertises you need, in order to gain competitive advantage for your business, it's entirely another matter if the competitive advantage goes, not to your firm, but to your competitors!
In my book, Other People's Problems, I talk about all the extracurricular baggage a person can bring into the workplace. One of the worst things you can do is to hire somebody and not find out as much as possible about them, not just as a worker, but as a person, so you can detect trouble on the horizon.
When you hire someone, their personal life - their divorce, their juvenile delinquent kid, their gambling habit, their criminal activities, etc.-can introduce a real drag on your firm's fitness to compete. This is why it's often a good idea to hire people on a contract or for a project. Not only can you see how they handle their job duties, you can also get to know them a bit as a person. This way, you will be in the position to offer permanent employment only to those people who will not be bringing personal problems into the workplace.
In a small firm, there is no way you can stay competitive if your personnel are on the phone a third of the time, wrangling with their bank manager or with the lawyer for their ex-spouse.You just don't have the resources, either human or financial, to counteract the damage. Because sadly, if the people you hire are distracted by their domestic and other personal troubles, the only companies who will benefit are those you compete with.
Copyright Deborah C. Sawyer
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