If you have recently been considering starting your own business, you are not alone. During the pandemic, Americans began launching ventures in record numbers, at an above-trend pace continued until 2023.
Unfortunately, a lot of these firms won’t last longAccording to the Small Business Administration, 30% of latest businesses fail inside two years, and half don’t survive beyond five years. While a few of these unlucky founders will pursue latest ventures, many others will try to return to the normal job market.
You cannot blame them. People often see “back to work” as a security net for entrepreneurs taking risks. How management professors who study entrepreneurshipwe wanted to check if it was true.
Overexposed
So we investigated over 700 recruitment specialists to determine whether founders can really discover a latest job so easily, in addition to seven former entrepreneurs who managed to return to the labor market.
We found that former business owners were actually less likely to take part in job interviews compared to candidates with only traditional experience. This happened no matter whether or not they sold or closed their businesses. The longer they were out of the normal workforce, the lower their possibilities of success.
Why are employers hesitant to give former business owners a likelihood?
It starts on the earliest stages, with recruiters checking whether individuals are or will not be considering interviews. We found that recruiters were concerned that entrepreneurs would jump into motion and begin their own firms as quickly as possible. This poses an issue for employers because hiring is an extended and expensive process that may take months and even years to recoup.
For example, one recruiter told us, “I’m looking for candidates who will be long-term employees because we invest heavily in each hire. When I interview people, it usually raises a red flag when they say they want to start their own business or already have a business on the side.”
A related concern: An worker who leaves to start a brand new enterprise may be tempted to steal talent, clients and tactics from the old employer.
Recruiters were also concerned that former entrepreneurs might refuse to take directions. Spending time as your own boss can make it difficult to adjust to a lower place within the organizational hierarchy. As one recruiter in our study put it, former business owners are “used to being the ones making all the decisions.”
They also raised the difficulty of job fit, questioning whether the knowledge and skills of former entrepreneurs would translate into traditional work. “The problem would be that the skills developed are not transferred,” said one in all our interlocutors. Additionally, for entrepreneurs who’ve worked alone, it may be difficult for recruiters to understand how well they are going to perform with others.
Even if a former entrepreneur is a superb fit for a job, recruiters may fail to connect with them due to stereotypes or misconceptions about their experience. A former bakery owner we interviewed recalls how she applied for a job and was pigeonholed based on her experience: “They said, ‘Oh, I wish we’d hired a baker!’ and I replied, “No, no, no, I’m applying to your front desk.” It was as in the event that they thought I only knew a baker, but that was removed from the reality.
Landing for a job interview
Our research adds: increasingly more evidence that former entrepreneurs have difficulty obtaining job interviews and offers. Fortunately, it also offers information that organizations can use to improve their candidate pool and that enterprising job seekers can use to improve their probabilities.
Our research shows that former entrepreneurs face less prejudice after they apply for jobs that appear entrepreneurial – in other words, consistent with stereotypes about business owners. For example, they’re more likely to be interviewed for positions with lots of autonomy, equivalent to latest business development, than for those who require compliance with many rules, equivalent to legal compliance.
Therefore, our research suggests that recruiters – perhaps unintentionally – have a bias against former entrepreneurs. Recognizing such trends is a superb first step towards minimizing their impact. Moreover, not all recruiters are affected equally: one other recent study found that recruiters who’re also affected previous entrepreneurial experience – in addition to women and recently employed people – were less likely to exclude former business owners. Therefore, organizations with more diverse recruiting teams and a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial experience may experience less biased results.
For their part, job applicants from former entrepreneurs could be clever to highlight desirable facets of their skilled history. For example, a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group found that executives consider innovation to be one in all their skills three most significant priorities. Former entrepreneurs should emphasize their many helpful features – e.g passionate AND creative – that contribute to innovation.
The lack of traditional employment history may be an obstacle for entrepreneurs trying to re-enter the labor market. Recruiters who overlook their value risk losing strong candidates.