From Nobody Applies to Everyone Applies: And Everything In-Between
For years nobody cared. Now we can't keep up with the applications. What happened and what to do.
We're 17 years into TicketManager. As of this writing, we have approximately 175 people, including full-time employees and contractors.
But we weren't always here. And business, when it's your business, is personal.
Hiring and friends has been a learning experience. Here's what I've learned, and the scars from it.
You learn who your real friends are in the early days
When we started TicketManager (as Corporate Events Group in 2007), nobody cared. Nobody helped. Nobody referred friends. Very few of those we knew bought from us or introduced us to their companies (Seth Wagner did. That's why he'll always be a ride or die - love you, Sethro). Only two of our friends joined us: Matt Huff and Matt Ansis. And they’re still here.
Very few people helped. We asked for intros, but they wouldn't give them. They'd ghost us or ignore us. And I learned real quick who my real friends are (Jay Huyler, Steve Neff, Claire Stroope - I’ll never be able to thank you enough).
Looking back now, it is a tremendous blessing.
There’s no misled arrogance.
There is no bigger compliment
Our business is both booming and in an industry that a lot of people want to work in. We have a track record of people growing here and leveraging being here into great gigs.
So now we get asked a lot by people in our community, partners, customers, kids friends parents.
There are few higher compliments in the world than someone trusting you with their career or, even more so, the career of their kids.
But it is hard, and you need to have a process that removes you. Or you make enemies.
I wrote here about how turning down a person in my son’s circle has led to his treatment of my family (he leaves out the part about applying for a job when he talks about our family).
Friends who we don't have a place for feel slighted. It impacts our relationship. I wish it didn’t. I’d like to ask if their other friends have given them jobs (they haven’t) and, if not, why are we the bad guys?
It's weird. It's awkward. And it's the exact opposite of what it was like in the first five years. We went from nobody caring to seemingly everyone.
Create a real process that keeps you out of hiring decisions.
Nepo hires can be great. Customer’s kids, partners friends, they can all be terrific. We do our best to help where we can with lower-impact jobs. I have five interns coming this summer who are from great families.
I know. I get it. It sounds like it sucks and it isn’t fair to hire people who have an inside track. I felt the same way when I was trying to get a gig out of college and had little luck. But hear me out.
Some of our best hires come from referrals from board members, investors, and vendors. Yes, it can go terribly wrong (hasn't yet for us. Key word there is yet). When it goes right, their reference makes it clear what's expected of them, and it can go great. They have another lever motivating them to make it work at TicketManager. And that’s always a good thing.