Why We Hire Brains & Character Over Experience

Last I week I blogged about our office manager who embezzled $200,000, and how she was a result of a “panic hire.” We needed help so badly that we hired the first person we found with experience.

As we started to grow, we frequently turned to applicants with experience to fill slots even when we were not in dire need. But we soon learned that it was cheaper and much less time consuming in the long run to hire candidates with no experience at all.

We were worried at first about the time and expense of training, but we quickly learned that fear was overblown as well.

Our hires with experience invariably brought two issues with them: (1) bad habits from other employers; and (2) culture clashes. The bad habits corrupted our carefully honed system and the culture issues impaired the teamwork that makes our office hum.

We now look for candidates with big brains, great character and no experience, and we train them ourselves. The pillars we focus on, as we mention time and again, are: (1) Academic skill; (2) DISC/personality tests; and (3) Congeniality.

We highly recommend this approach to everyone looking to hire and grow. Training is easier than most people realize, and it is less work and less expensive in the long run.

Jay Voorhees
Founder/Broker | JVM Lending
(855) 855-4491 | DRE# 01524255, NMLS# 310167