How to Hire Young Ben

A friend in the knife industry is looking to expand his marketing presence and is planning to hire someone. In an enormous compliment, he asked me the following question: “How do I recruit/find a young Ben to come and work for me? Where does one find such a person?” Aside from being flattered, I gave his question some serious thought. For starters, my friend has watched me work for the past 7 years, so he’s seen my hot mess of a career in the knife industry up close. You may not have that luxury, so here’s my self-assessment to give you an idea of what my friend means when he says he’s looking for a “Young Ben.” My intent in writing this is not to toot my own horn. Rather, it’s an introspective reminder that I started my career somewhere and the attributes I had then will serve me in the future as well.

What makes me a solid employee?

• Hungry hustle

  • When I started my career, I was a broadcast journalism major with a minor in film, and I didn’t want to go into either field I was studying. (You should watch my news resume reel here. It was a train wreck.) I was hungry and lost professionally. Graduation was looming and I was getting nervous. I knew I had to do something quick to make ends meet for my family, and whatever I did had to be successful.

The news crew during my time in college as a broadcast journalism major. I wouldn’t trade the education I received for anything, but broadcast was never my jam– as evidenced by my apparent disregard for the fancy dress code and the pained look on my face.

I took up the position of videographer at Blade HQ out of necessity and I hustled like a madman. Every family vacation was an opportunity to film somewhere new. No budget, no limits. Just hustle. I learned about knives in the evenings via YouTube and I spent my days trying to make content that worked. I was hungry and motivated to hustle because there weren’t other options.

• Consistent

  • I show up on time. I stay late if I need to. I write things down and follow up. I’m more of a tortoise than a hare in the classic Aesop’s fable: steady and consistent.

• Balanced

  • I don’t want to spend my entire life at work. I go home at 5-ish each night because I know I’ll be a better employee if I detox from the office for the evening. I love my job. And I love my life outside my job. Work life balance is critical to me.

Hobbies keep me sane. Last I checked, you can’t waterski at work, and the office isn’t in Southern Utah.

• Agile

  • I’m flexible in my work. I love feedback– both giving and receiving it. I’m keenly aware of countless roads to a successful outcome, and I’m a constant critic of my own work. I believe improvement happens via humility.

• Creative

  • I’m not afraid to try weird stuff and experiment with outside-the-box ideas on a shoe-string budget in my current position as a Marketing Manager. This creativity is also the basis of problem-solving and that time honored skill called “get ‘er done.” I think in terms of principles, rather than instructions.

How do I hire people like me?

I’ve hired 12 people in the last two years– that’s a heap for a company with 50 employees! In many ways I’ve hired “Young Bens” who were fresh out of school or looking to start a new chapter in life. I’ve found folks with the soft skills mentioned above, as well as the hard skills needed for each position. I haven’t gotten it right every time, but I’ve seen amazing results so far. Here’s what I’ve learned:

• The job posting

  • Ensure that your job posting reflects the type of person you’d like to hire. I make my job descriptions fun because I want to hire fun people. I work in a fairly informal company, so I include informalities in the postings I write (ie: corn hole skills a plus, flip flops are great, etc.). I also include a hoop to jump through in applying– I ask applicants to write something, make something and answer questions via a Google Form. The form is easy for me to keep track of applicants, and it separates folks who want the job from those who don’t care. I post the job on Indeed.com and a local site, KSL.com. I get an equal number of good and bad candidates from each site. I throw out applicants who don’t jump through my hoop.

• The interview

  • I ask a few questions outside of the job description. I want to know about their personality and how they articulate their ideas. A few of my favorites:

    • What is something you’re passionate about? Why?

    • What is your favorite brand and why?

    • Tell us about a time when you failed (my favorite).

  • I give applicants a chance to ask questions during their interview. The type of questions they ask and don’t ask are telling. If they’re not asking questions about the company and culture, they’re probably not going to care much about that company and culture. If they haven’t researched your company prior to the interview, chances are, they’re never going to love that company.

• Avoid the overly specialized

  • I’ve found that when someone has defined their entire life under the heading of “graphic designer” or “photographer” or “writer,” they have a difficult time adapting to assignments outside their specialty. When it comes to marketing in the small business world, everyone wears multiple hats. If you need a graphic designer that can also source a t-shirt overseas and keep track of expenses in Excel, be careful about hiring a full-on, beret-wearing graphic auteur. Flexibility is an immeasurable asset in small business.

• Take a risk

  • I hire 50/50 on skills and fit. Sometimes an employee doesn’t have the full complement of hard skills I need, but they check all the soft skill boxes. It’s hard to teach things like determination. I can teach knives and Photoshop and retail. I can’t teach punctuality, creativity and problem solving. I prefer to risk it with an unproven employee who has hustle than with someone who sports a shining track record and the baggage of pride.

• Hire the underdog

  • Again, the ones that are hungry will hustle more than those who are set in life. Hire the guy doing data entry who is determined to start a real career. Hire the girl who doesn’t have any real-world business experience but she’ll work like a champ and learn it.

A Word of Caution

I worked at my first job out of college at Blade HQ for 2.5 years, then I left the company for a new opportunity. It turns out “Young Bens” are hungry and they’re willing to fly the coop to find food. I wanted to learn more and expand my knowledge and my job wasn’t doing it, so I bailed.

This was my last day of work at Blade HQ in 2013. It was also the last day I was a full-time video man. I wanted to expand my skill set, so I moved on from my first job out of college.

When you’re hiring underdogs and fresh-outta’ school folks with hustle, they will probably leave. Plan on it. I’m on my second marketing team now after the first team left. Here’s where they went: One went overseas to teach English. One fell in love and moved to Portland. One got married and moved on. Another was ready for a change and two others were transferred to another department.

Hiring talent is less of a marriage and more of a roommate gig: enjoy your time together, stay up late, do cool things, but plan on a revolving door of people coming and going.

The Blade HQ Marketing Team, February 2017. The raw talent in the group is inspiring.