Hire For A Real Job
If you are going to hire family members, you need to hire them for jobs that actually exist—that are part of a normal career track at your firm. Time and again, I see a son or daughter hired without a job description or a set of responsibilities. Often, the owners say the job is simply to “learn everything about the firm,” but they create no process or duties. The result is a young person who wanders through the office and the org chart frequently trespassing on other people’s areas of responsibility.
Even worse is to “invent” a job that wouldn’t exist otherwise. I have seen positions such as “director of strategy” (for a firm of five) or “chief of staff” or “partner in training.” One advisor in California hired his daughter, who was still an undergraduate, as “director of marketing” and her first project was to remodel the family’s vacation house.
Ask Children To Compete For Their Jobs
Ideally, a family member does not arrive in some kind of sinecure but instead competes with external candidates for a position openly advertised. The best-case scenario would be for the family member to apply like everyone else, be interviewed by the hiring manager and other partners and convince all of them that he or she is the best candidate available. Neither the process nor the result should be skewed in the person’s favor. If the candidates can pass this test, it will be much easier for the firm to accept them as part of the team.
It may be painful for business owners to possibly reject their children as applicants, but the possibility must exist for the team to feel the process was fair. Moreover, it helps the kids establish their credibility as professionals if they earned it.
Don’t Be The First Employer
In fact, one of my longtime clients has a great piece of guidance for his children: They should work at least five years somewhere else before they come to his firm. His rule allows the children to gain some experience, establish their careers and, very important, establish their confidence. The experience of working somewhere else gives them perspective on what a real workplace is like and how they must deal with situations on their own without help. If they have never worked anywhere else or done anything else but work for dad, they’ll have a hard time convincing others they’ve achieved something on their own.
Put Them On A Normal Career Track
Once family members are hired, they should pursue the normal career track in the firm, joining at an appropriate position for their experience and following the same rules of advancement as everyone else.