Take a punt on a newbie

Jeremy Tauri.

A new survey by MYOB shows that 44 per cent of small-to-medium business owners say they do not think the education system gives students the skills they need to work in their business.

Almost 60 per cent said students did not have the skills to run their own businesses and only 16 per cent said the education system gave young people the skills to be entrepreneurs or innovators.

We live in a fast-paced, high-demand environment, where demand for skills currently exceeds supply and expectations are heightened because we are so busy. But some of these SME operators may be writing young people off too soon.

My business partner used to tell me stories of the new grads they hired at one of the firms he worked in before ours.

He would say that fresh out of university, it would take graduates a year to be truly useful.

But I know some SME owners in particular decide that because young people - and any new hires, in fact - take time to get up to speed, it's not worth putting in the effort.

This is a short-sighted approach. Yes, you might have to put in a lot of extra time and effort to getting your new staff up to the level you really need. Occasionally you might even find that some leave just at the point where they are starting to become truly useful.

But, a lot of the time, taking a punt on a newbie and giving someone a chance can really pay off.

If you give people the right training, and communicate with them well, you can give them a great chance to shine.

No matter what the job, anyone who comes into it new needs to learn the business systems and methods. And no matter how perfect you think your processes are, they will probably be alien to someone else.

Busy times such as these are a good opportunity to offer a chance to a potential new recruit - you never know, they may be your next star employee.

- Jeremy Tauri is an associate at Plus Chartered Accountants.