The open letter of a 30 year old entrepreneur: “I’m willing to hire, but can’t seem to find hard working people”

This is not the letter of an entrepreneur facing difficult times, disappointed by years of struggling with bureaucracy or being suffocated by a market undergoing crisis, nor is it the complaint of an old man in conflict with the new generation. Quite the opposite, this is the reflection of a person who, still far from reaching 40 years of age, was lucky enough to contribute at building a company – a consulting firm – which continues to grow every year, reaching evermore ambitious milestones, pursuing international expansion and working with prestigious clients. In a time when (apparently against the norm) it continues to grow and develop more exciting projects, an unusual difficulty in finding people who want to get involved, learn, grow and work reveales itself. To put in an effort. Not physical, construction site effort, but one made of looming deadlines, of (euphemistically) lively exchange of opinions, of business trips, of feeling always challenged by a contract (the one with the customer) bound to results. An effort that, for people like me and like us makes building something possible; an effort that was never a problem, and that always came second to the satisfaction of seeing the results of our work – professional first, and personal after. In fact, when we created auxiell ten years ago, fresh out of college, at a time when the only start-up seemed to be those related to technology, we set a goal: working to help create excellent companies not only in their products but also in the processes that form them. That’s why auxiell exists: to create examples of excellence, so that entrepreneurs and managers can be proud of what they do and of the results they achieve. But to create examples, first you must be an example, putting the interests of the customer, project or company before your own when necessary. Yet, at a time when everyone talks about crisis and unemployment, and a time in which we have plenty of jobs to offer, we often find ourselves facing people whose mentality includes the equation, “If I’m compensated I will face sacrifices” and not, rather, “I have no problem facing sacrifices, and therefore I know I can aspire to achieve something”. It’s not a question of age or origins: by now, we’ve faced similar objections too many times to even imagine attributing them to a single population cluster. Of course, I’m not talking about “exploiting” work, even less that of young graduates as indeed we were too some time ago. I’m talking about sharing (yes, sharing) the rewards of a job only after it was done without watching the clock or the calendar, with a hint of that highly praised (in words…) entrepreneurial mind-set. For us, the challenge continues.