top of page

Why I Just Hired Someone With No Experience For A Prime Position!


Anyone who works in management is given the task of recruiting new talent to the team. In the past, it wasn't very difficult, you put out and ad, people send in their materials and you sort through them, interview the ones you like, bring in the top candidates, call some references and make a hire.


That game has changed completely. Because there are not enough people who want to put any effort into making a resume, doing interviews, calling references, or anything beyond uploading a resume to a database that has a program scan it for keywords, we have become complacent in our hiring practices. We hire the same people who keep floating around the industry (a lot of times the same market) doing the same job and achieving the same results.


As radio has become smaller, we are seeing fewer and fewer new people enter the business.

(Here is my soapbox) We don't do a very good job of telling people the story of why we are in radio and what made us so passionate to enter and remain in this career. (This could inspire someone to enter the business.) We have done a horrible job trying to retain good people. We don't recruit very well...or at all. We don't praise publicly. We don't reprimand privately (i.e. respect). We don't train our heritage employees in new ways to do their job. We don't train new employees to do better. As a matter of fact, there are many candidates I speak with who say that their managers don't train anyone at all. We do a terrible job of team building. (Soapbox over)


There have been a few articles about hiring people who have no experience in your industry and how companies like that idea. These "outsiders" are people who normally use your products, so they can bring a new perspective to what you are doing.


Crazy enough, (without patting myself on the back too hard) I have hired some people who fall into this category. I have hired kids who were in High School, people who worked in payday loan companies and people who worked in the food industry (specifically, Starbucks and Subway). All of them have entered radio fold...and the results have been nothing less than stellar for the company and their careers. I couldn't be more proud of each one of them. A couple are doing mornings in a major markets, a couple of them are working in larger companies doing voice tracking and independent voice work in multiple markets, others have moved on to TV work. In all, these women (yes, they are all women) are what make our industry shine and should be showcased more often.


Regardless of the gender, "outsider" employees bring drive, determination, vision and they question everything when they come in. A lot ask the questions that start with "why do we do it that way?" or "Why don't we do it this way?" Those questions are my favorites. They make me ask the same question and add "How can we do this better?"


So let me go back to why I would hire someone with no experience.


Simple, they are worth the time to train. They are worth the money to pay. Because they are passionate, wanting to learn and are willing to dedicate their time. They want to know everything about the craft. They have an open mind, as everything is new. Their attention to detail is better...above all, they don't bring bad habits. They get trained our way. They learn our methods and philosophies.


When you train a person with no experience, you run the risk of them learning everything they can and moving on. Personally, I encourage that. My theory is if you are wanting to better yourself, far be it from me to hold you back. Tell me your intentions of moving on, I will help you make your package the best it can be, help you brush up on your interview skills and even call prospective employers and/or be a reference for you. (Of course, if you want to throw down the anchor and stay, you are welcome to do that, too.)


How did we come to hire my latest employee who has no radio experience? I put out an ad in the trades, but I wrote it to the Millennial generation. I didn't do the laundry list of "we require", "You will do", "team player"blah blah blah that we all put in all of our ads. I went to school on this. I wanted to craft an ad that met people, who want to be in radio, where they are. I wanted to emotionally connect with them, but tell them who we are and what we are looking for.


I sat down with our employee manual, the job description, my boss (the owner of the radio group) what he wanted to see in an employee, I asked employees why they like working here and what they feel they are able to contribute and if they felt they had expectations. My result was an ad like nothing I have ever written before...and the number of quality resumes and airwork samples was overwhelming. For a job in a town of 25,000 (TSA area of 75,000), I had over 70 applicants!!!! Each one was in various stages of their career, however, there was an amazing amount of people who had no experience (or very little). Some had airwork samples, some didn't. We reviewed all of them. I let the staff check them out and give me feedback. We agreed on most of them and we called the Top 5, and had in-person interviews with the top 3.


The Top 3 we all agreed on had, overall, the least amount of experience of all other candidates. The one we ended up hiring had never worked in radio before....ever. Sure, she had worked for a short period of time on TV, but radio is something she NEVER had done. She came to us telling us all the things she doesn't know about radio and wanted to learn. She did come with a lot of skills we are looking to build in the cluster, but her knowledge of who she is and her admitted lack of experience made her the perfect employee. The entire staff agrees. (Never have I had this happen before, where everyone was excited about a new employee.)


I hope you don't mind indulging me on this. I will remove some specifics about the job, but I am pretty proud of this ad...and we believe in everything in the ad. I am open to thoughts and criticism about it, so feel free to let me know. I would love to improve this ad, if needed.


(Company) is looking to add to our on-air team on the area's leading (format) station, (station name), for a Full-Time Afternoon Drive personality and Voice Track Night show on our Hot AC, (station name). We are a small, but growing, local radio group in a small market that makes money and makes big market radio. Right now we are looking for an Afternoon Driver. We believe in "local radio for the future" and have been successful with that mantra. We are looking to add your contributions to our team to continue that success...and, yes, we will gladly give you credit for your ideas. The best part is that we are NOT looking for a lot of experience. Sure, we are looking for SOME experience, but enthusiasm and the desires to learn, contribute and win are more important. We also welcome anyone with a breadth of experience, but it isn't necessary. Here is what we offer to the right person/people: - A fun, informal work environment, where creativity is rewarded - A VERY healthy work/live balance...yes, that means vacations and time off is encouraged without penalty. We want you to succeed. - If you want to be a leader, here or in the future with another company, we want to help you gain those skills. - Ability to work independently and as part of a team - Training to do your job as a team and independently, with clearly stated end goals - Extremely supportive management for new ideas - A management team that has the reputation of possessing all of the qualities that we are looking for - Competitive (better than average salary, D.O.E) - Insurance (for full-time) - Low cost of living - 401k The kind of person for whom we are looking has a large number of these qualities: - Is the kind of air talent that wants to hone their skills - Wants to make a difference in the community - You don't see barriers; only opportunities - You have solutions to issues, problems and concerns for the station/company/industry - You accept accountability in all that you do. - You know that Social Media is an outreach for radio to grow and you have ideas on how to make that happen, because radio hasn't done it well enough yet. - The belief that Podcasting and radio can be married to win - Not afraid to get dirty to get the job done - You know how to make a blog/meme/post go viral - You are familiar with Audition, Premiere, Photoshop, Wordpress, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, et al and speak the language - You are willing to stick with us for at least 2 years (or more, if you like.) Then, when you are ready to move on, we will help you find ways to land your next gig, without pushing you out the door...we not are the the kind of people to hold you back from your dreams. - Understanding that no job at the station is too small, or beneath you. We are a little different than a lot of radio groups, as we know the times have changed and we have embraced what the future may hold. If this sounds exciting to you, send your aircheck (No, it does not have to be a specific format) Any format is welcome), resume and references, in strict confidence, to (work email). (Company) is EEO Phone calls are welcome, but not all will be returned. (Don't be offended, it isn't personal)


BTW, I emailed every single person back to let them know they didn't get the job. I also encouraged them to email me back to let them know what it was that didn't get them the job. I offered to help them work on their packages for future jobs.


I am still sifting through all of the people asking what they can do to improve. This is the biggest area of shame that I am finding in radio. Like I said before, we do a bad job of training and helping. I want to change that. I hope we all can change this.


Featured Posts
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
No tags yet.
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Social Icon
bottom of page