Pro's And Con's Of 'In Industry' Hiring?

So we're gearing up to hiring a couple of new people at GA Media over the coming months and i was wondering what you folks thought about hiring existing people from inside the industry versus hiring from outside the industry?

The immediate pro that came to mind for hiring outside the industry is that the successfull person wont have any bad habits to break them of, however, the con against this is that they will need more one-on-one training to be able to complete their job effectively.

That being said, what would you say are some pros and cons against hiring inside or, outside the adult industry?

Regards,

Lee

I think it all depends. That's like asking if it's better to date someone who works in the industry or not. It all boils down to the people who are involved. You can be out of the industry and be a quick learner, and you can be in the industry and just be worthless. It's all chemistry and passion. :)

I find it hard to fathom someone who works in this industry for someone else and doesn't at least have their own side projects going. I would worry that they are borrowing ideas or stealing trade secrets. And then they quit and start being competition.

On the other hand, people outside the business may never grasp it. They may possess or learn relevant technical skill but it's no guarantee that they will get adult. Or they may get the porn aspect but never learn the technical side.

Either way, it's a crap shoot. ;)

I handle the borrowing and stealing question by having my new staff members sign an NDA and Non-compete agreement. That is not foolproof but will disuade many from trying it, and give some recourse if they do.

On the other hand, I certainly cant blame employees that want to better their position and do some of their own stuff to earn extra money, as long as it is done on their time and not mine. In fact, I find that level of motivation to be pretty attractive.

I hire people that both have industry experience and those that dont. I agree with Ken in that it is sort of a chemistry thing. Some employees work out and some dont, not unlike any other industry I have ever worked in.

I do sort of like the no experience = no bad habits to break thing, as long as they are reasonably fast learners.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xstr8guy

I find it hard to fathom someone who works in this industry for someone else and doesn't at least have their own side projects going. I would worry that they are borrowing ideas or stealing trade secrets. And then they quit and start being competition.

On the other hand, people outside the business may never grasp it. They may possess or learn relevant technical skill but it's no guarantee that they will get adult. Or they may get the porn aspect but never learn the technical side.

Either way, it's a crap shoot. ;)

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the pro's of hiring "in house" would be they would be "experienced" in the "relative-field" versus having to train someone.
the con's would be they may go to work for someone else's house!

sincerely ~ ..."take care! , the people you meet on the way up will be the same ones you meet on the way down"... :toff:

We have done it both way...kind of BI I guess.

We have tried a PAID search option...poor results.
We have tried hiring insiders and also newbies.

It's hard..very hard..
Our best luck has been CraigsList, newbies.
With full disclosure that they will see hot naked men.

I understand, and expect, that the person you hire will be motivated enough to create their own sites. This shows me that they are interested in the marketplace more then just 8-5 M-F. Yes, I run the risk of them learning the secrects of HTML and marketing but I also gain in the fact that if they are motivated they will be going above the standard duties and teaching us new things. NDAs are great but in moderation. We all learn off of each other and continue to do so. We just treat them very well and hope they stay with us a long long time. Of course, I reserve the rights to change my mind at a later date.

But I would hire a newbie that is good at areas that you need. Then train them for the rest of what they need to know.

i've been watching this post to see what people would say. although i have comments on both pros and cons of hiring within the industry, i'm just gonna address the pros.

i'm using my own personal experience as an example when i was hired on with worldwidecontent.com and later on by pridebucks.com. by that time, i had already 5 years of experience in the adult entertainment world, including sextracker, babenet, 2000charge, etc.

PROS:

1. they didn't have to explain to me what: DVDA, V8, Gonzo, etc..meant..I already knew.

2. i was able to bring in a few in a few orders to worldwidecontent.com when i started because i already had connections/friends in the industry and knew they needed content.

3. problems with MPA? NATS? CCBILL? WTS? EPOCH? i have worked with these companies in the past and already had ICQs and emails and contacts with these people....already knew how they operated and how they worked.

4. need a custom script written? no worries, i probably already have one written somewhere and can re-use most of the code.

and more general...i can't count the number of times i'll be asked if something could be done or how it should be done...and i'll say something like "well, back at (whatever company), this is how we solved the problem..what do you think?"


i also think there are cons to hiring in the industry, but that's another story.

Well I'm someone that started out working for a big AVS company and eventually became a Webmaster. I made that AVS company thousands of dollars as an employee, and even more money when I became a Webmaster (and they continue to make thousands of dollars a month off me from rebills every month). So I think even if someone does end up learning the trade and your secrets, if you treat them right they may just end up using that knowledge to make you a whole lot more money even if they don't remain an 'employee.'

The other thing I've learned with our employees is, if it takes too much time to train them (and I lose too many of my hours), it actually causes me to lose money and if they aren't bright right off the bat they never will be. I personally like people with specific skill sets that I can put to work right away with minimal training. I've wasted too much time on employees in the past when it became obvious they just would never get it. I'm learning to be like Donald Trump and say 'you're fired' quicker LOL