Hiring within the Industry?
 

I'm curious as to everyone's thoughts on hiring within the industry. This applies to us, Too Much Media, not really a general question.

Up until now everyone we have hired has come from outside of the industry. My worry with hiring somone within the industry is that there will be a conflict of interest to the program owners who are our clients. Much the same as my refusal to outsource ANY of our support or development. Most people in this industry have an undying desire to work for themselves and make it big on their own. That is the majority of what worries me as we run the risk of them abusing or outright stealing in order to help achieve their dreams.

On the other hand by hiring someone from within the industry we would avoid the learning curve associated with our very unique industry. So far the possibile negatives have outweighted the benefits for myself and we have hired 100% in office employees from outside of the industry. I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts on this (good or bad).

There is no one specific we are considering hiring. It is just a general curiosity on my part as to how the industry and community would react and feel about it.

Sorry, to clarify also, when I say hire within the industry I mean hire someone and relocate them to our office. Not hire someone and have them work remotely.

Also, I mean for a position which would involve access to clients such as support or development. Of course a sales rep or the like would not be as large of an issue whether they are from within or outside of the industry.

Good question John, we have hired from outside the industry as well (mostly) but we just recently hired 2 well known adult industry veterans. I'm happy to report the hires thus far have been very successful and we hope these employees will stay with us forever :)

I do know where you are coming from and can definetely understand your frustrations. I think most adult industry workers expect ridiculously high salaries and unrealistic benefits associated with their jobs. It's the same old bullshit when you go to the shows the reps talk to other reps and the grass is always greener on the other side. ;)

I think if you can find the needle in the haystick like we did you can find some good people in the industry that work hard and are worth the money. It's a lot easier to have someone that completely understands what you are doing and can easily translate what you want to do into a success. Whereas you have a new hire outside the industry and you have to start with baby steps and explain every little piece of the pie.

There are pros and cons to hiring within or outside the industry... I really believe in the end it's about the person not where they lie in which industry. I would much rather spend 3 months training a productive, loyal and smart employee than hiring someone who knows the job and work but is inheritly lazy and is just out for themselves and not the team.

Ok end of rant /

DH

I think it depends on what job you are going to have the person do. I know if i worked for NATS I would look at what sites are converting well for your customers and do similar style paysites for myself.

Anyone in an important role that you hire should be signing a non-compete agreement with cooldown period. Problem solved.

John if you don't want to give me a job, just tell me, a thread isn't needed.

Don't discount people within the industry. There are a lot of good people inside the industry that might be looking for fresh challenges - and some who might have found that working for themselves is not all that it's cracked up to be.

I see you skipped one point.
Its not unusual that by hiring someone knowledgeable you'll have someone
to learn from and not the other way around.

Correct.

I feel your pain, and have went through the same problem trying to balance out the pros & cons because those interested are always looking to learn everything they can, and split off to their own thing ASAP.

My lawyer recommended the above. Illiminating them from being able to steal property, compete against you in the same niche/market, or learn everything they can and run.

My main concern was spending all the time to train someone, just to have them leave as soon as they learn the ropes. The agreement solved that. It pretty much illiminated all the other sharks who's motivations were to just use you for what they could get, and go build their empire.

:2 cents:

depends what kind of position it is in my opinon. if its something that requires extensive contacts and a solid reputation, you can't really find that outside. but, if its a position like a programmer, i'd probably actually prefer to take someone from outside and mold them into what i want.

doesn't work like that. especially for rep positions.

someone from outside the industry is sometimes better, example programmers etc.

my friend who is an excellent coder is not in the industry, he works for a company that does a lot of stuff for the new york stock exchange, he could code anything, any language, but for him to leave the company hes at, it would have to be a pretty sweat deal.

i think something like a coder would work harder, cause i have worked with a few coders who are really lazy, even designers, you give them a project and they dont contact you for a week.

I will never hire someone outside the industry, they aren't worth it. The training and the fact that most people don't have what it takes. Always hire within the industry, just hire stand-up people. I've worked at 3 adult companies now and have never screwed over a previous place of work. That would ruin your name in the business.

For sensitive positions that do not require a contact list or knowledge of 'adult'....especially programmers, I'd recommend hiring outside the industry.

Non compete clauses don't hold up in some states....

Support and development can easily and successfully be outsourced but only to those with impeccable reputations and longevity within the industry. The downside is that you will not get these people to sign non-competes, but if you follow the "impeccable reputation" requirement, that isn't a concern because they don't get that rep by screwing over their clients through the years.

Hiring inexperienced people should *always* be an in-house requirement though. They just won't have the experience to forsee alot of the "stuff" that webmasters and surfers alike try to pull and develop solutions for those type situations and getting that experience takes years to acquire. In this type scenario, if you're training the person and giving him new skills, you have every right to require a non-compete should they leave.

The time it takes to train could be better served by bringing in experience and actually developing - only you can answer that question for what works best for you. A possible successful scenario for you might be to hire a "moitor" in-house that keeps tabs on your outsourced people to ensure quality and timely work.

There are a few people in the industry (myself included) that aren't looking to own a piece of the action and prefer to contract out for a period of time so yes, there are folks out there and you shouldn't close your mind off to those opportunities.