The transcript, case study guide and video for the first key idea from the episode, People Power, Building Teams, a special episode of the show, as seen on Small Business School, the series on PBS-member stations in the USA and the Voice of America around the world. This is the most important television topic there is.

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last update: April 2007

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Hire Attitude Not Skill


Leonor Ferrer, Ferrer Brokers, San Diego and Tijuana

Transcript for this Segment

In the Studio

HATTIE: Hi. I'm Hattie Bryant. You've probably heard business owners say, the challenge of business starts when you hire your first employee.

Today we dip back into the programs we've done in the past to give you the very best thinking on the people part of running a business. There is some science to this, but there's more art than you might imagine. Smart business owners have specific techniques for getting started on the right footing.

HATTIE: Leonor Ferrer says attitude is more important than skill.

LEONOR FERRER: I would rather have somebody that's fresh out of school, that has no experience, has absolutely a blank mind, and then I like to train them with my philosophy of work and the way I like to do things. And so that's why I have such a, you know, low turnover, because they know. They know exactly what I expect from them.

HATTIE: Well, you don't have to then undo the old habits that some other broker...

LEONOR: Exactly. Yeah. You know, one time I hired a person from another broker and she spent three months telling me how the other broker did things, and I don't do that well.

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Key Idea #1 of this episode

1.		Hire Attitude Not Skill
2.		Hire People Who Can Read People
3.		Hire People Others May Overlook
4.		Hire Nice People With Energy
5.		Offer A Career Track With Good Pay and Benefits
6.		Create An Intern Program
7.		Promote From Within
8.		Put What You Want In Writing
9.		Interview and Audition
10.		Teach, Preach, Coach and Counsel
11.		Provide real Training
12.		Train Everyone, Not Just Sales
13.		Listen To All Ideas
14.		Offer A Job For Life

Hire Your First Employee

Key Idea #1: Hire Attitude Not Skill. Before she started her own firm, Leonor Ferrer worked for a large custom broker. At that job, she saw some things she did not want to see in her own company. She learned how not to do some things. Because of this experience, she prefers to hire people who have no experience in the customs business.

Topic for discussion: What is the down side to hiring people fresh out of school or who have never worked in your industry before?

Answer: You have to take time to teach them. Leonor says it is easier to teach skill than attitude. So, if you hire a person who wants to learn and who has a nice personality, you will build a better work team than if you focus only on hiring a person who has experience. Leonor has almost no turnover, which means she spends time in the beginning teaching; but, she keeps people many years, so it pays in the long run.

You think about it: Are you willing to take time to teach? Do you have a process in place to teach new hires?

Sole Proprietors: After spending some time with these key ideas, we invite you to consider hiring. If you will work through your local small business advocates (Chambers, Economic Development and Workforce Initiatives), we will list you, link you, provide free CPE that you can give to your CPA, and place you in the queue for a possible local segment of an episode of the show. You will also have free access to Courses 2 & 3, once these are brought back up online under the current operating environment.

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