In earlier post on best practices when hiring a manager I mentioned that the small business owners should first try find an internal candidate and promote someone who is already working with you when you need to hire a manager. The feedback we received on the post as well as discussions with other small business owners has validated this practice. The reason is obvious. Any mistake made in hiring a manager will hurt your business for a long time. The best example of why this is the case can be seen in the difference in last 10 years in the performance of America’s two storied technology companies.
Look at the stock performance of IBM and HP. While IBM has experienced tremendous growth in those 10 years HP has gone in exactly the opposite direction. One of the factors that has contributed to this divergence is the way they have hired CEOs. IBM has had only 2 CEOs in the last 10 years. Not only that, they were both promoted from within and were groomed for several years prior to that. On the flip side, HP has gone through 5 CEOs since 1999 – all of who were hired from outside. I believe this is the primary reason why both companies are where they are. Let me explain the reasons why internal candidate is your best choice when hiring a manager.
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