Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Commercial Awareness

There are some things to not do at a job interview.
Some examples:
  • Wear sunglasses pushed up on top of the head.
  • Dress casually.
  • Overtly display necklaces/gold chains.
  • Say stupid things.
Recently an applicant for a senior role remarked in conversation that were he as "rich" as Gina Rinehart, he'd use the money for "good" instead of being "greedy and wanting more".

This automatically vetoed his job application.

That Reason: It demonstrates lack of commercial awareness.

The Wayside Tavern is a commercial enterprise.
The Wayside Tavern is self funding.

The very minute the Wayside Tavern stops making a profit, it ceases to exist.
The very minute the Wayside Tavern stops making a profit, every member of the staff loses their job.

Thinking of money as something to give away, is fine for someone on the dole, in the armed forces, in the church, etc., but not in a commerical business!

Almost every business in the land (almost certainly this includes Gina Rinehart) is mortgaged or otherwise beholden to lenders.

If a business is valued at (say) ten million dollars, it does not mean the owner has the option of converting it all into $10,000,000 in banknotes tomorrow morning, putting it under a mattress, and spending it on beer, snacks, dancing girls or perhaps giving $10,000,000 to the needy.

A business is a treadmill, demanding inordinate amounts of the owner's time, without regard to a social calendar.

A business valued at (say) ten million dollars has two options:
Stop trading, in which case there'll be not much left after the fire sale, and the owner will quite likely have to get a job.
Pursue profit, in the hope of keeping one's head above water (financially).
This latter is a constant battle.

In a key role, in a commerical enterprise, there is no room for someone who is not commercially aware!

Heck, this bloke probably believes that all that money in the cash register in Grace Bros. is "pure profit - cash in hand, not bad work if you can get it?"

3 comments:

MickfromVic said...

Mine host - once again - you have it exactly right.

My son recently made the comment that compared with my ex-wife (his Mum) that I was rich. I asked him how he worked that out (she works and lives rent-free).

His response: well, when you make a website for someone, you get $500 and an iPhone app you get $1500 - that's a lot of money. Yes, but if I don't sell one, I don't eat.

Funny that my 12 year old has more sense than your prospective hire.

Steve at the Pub said...

Hi Michael,
An instinct for conservation/preservation of one's resources (or instinct for handling a quid) seems to be something that people either have or don't have.

You can't seem to teach it to someone, and I've really tried hard at times.

MickfromVic said...

Keep fighting the good fight - but know that there are people out there that are not evolutionarily adapted to achieving success - better to set those ones adrift.

Like Law 10 of the 48 Laws of Power - 'Avoid the unhappy and unlucky'