We’re Always Hiring…Shouldn’t We be?
I read a tweet recently from DHH that made me question something that I have held true for a long time, specifically, that it was always a good thing to be hiring (or if you are on the other side, to be looking for new opportunities/challenges).
On it’s face, I think many people would agree with this sentiment and it’s one that I try to internalize. Obviously, if companies and teams hire better and retain and train, they will likely realize many gains (productivity, satisfaction, cohesion, etc). But, the question that arose to me was, why is this mutually exclusive to always being on the lookout for good talent?
To be fair to David, I don’t know the specific context he was applying this tweet. If we look at a company that is “always hiring” because they run a grinder mill that can’t retain people for more than 2 years, then yes, this is not the best sentiment to have. I would argue though that if you look at it from just about any other perspective, at least always being open to hiring is a much more productive position, maybe even a necessary one for survival.
The same is true of job seekers. If you are hopping from job to job every two years, context matters. Were you seeking new challenges, stretching yourself, adding value within each team? We can all celebrate individuals who do a good job, but outgrow certain positions and for whom there are not always productive avenues to continue to grow in place and we can, rightfully, complain about those making disruptive changes without giving back what we have invested in them (investment in a non-monetary sense).
What really made me sit down and think though was our further exchange and whether it was possible to have “enough” talent working with you. At the time I wrote that this was a great luxury, but I had to reflect on exactly what this luxury entailed. After some thought, though, I don’t think this is a luxury at all, only a kind of gamble.
Uncertainty is inherent to everything in life and business. From the business side, advantages that allow you to comfortably say we have enough now can evaporate, often more quickly that we realize. From a personal side, people are in motion, and they should be. It’s not possible to provide a challenging growth environment for all employees forever. The gamble, therefore, is that you will be able to hold on to your team indefinitely and adapt to changing business requirements, or that the world will stand still until there’s some change in the company (like a sale) or you (like retirement). It’s also a gamble that when someone leaves or requirements change there is an infinite pool of equally talented replacements available at a moment’s notice. Always hiring is not efficient in the sense that you may be overstaffed or compelled to grow beyond your comfort zone, but the alternative, at least to me, it so play dice with world. You might win forever, but I don’t think the odds are very good in the long run.
