The young woman gave a baffled look and tried her best to politely smile, only God knows what’s going on her mind at that moment.
“So,” I asked, the team, “has she been asked the sanity question?”
I then spoke to the young woman on my screen. “It’s hard to start a company,” I said.
“It’s brutally hard to start two companies,” I continued.
“We’re starting three. In a pandemic. As you can see, we’re not normal. The people inside the company you’re joining are insane.”
Not the best way to recruit someone. At least that’s what textbooks say.
A couple of days later, that young woman, a recent graduate of Business Administration and Accountancy from the University of the Philippines (Cum Laude) is in a consulting meeting with a business owner together with her fellow Interns.
Jersy wasn’t the first to undergo this unorthodox (crazy?) type of interview and she definitely won’t be the last to be asked that question.
It began with Angel who started FA Hernando Consulting’s business development department and then interviewed Gummy, ultimately ending up building BTL Ventures’ social media presence together.
There’s Kate who picked things up where Angel left off and built the business development team into what a powerhouse team it is now.
There’s Denise who, after barely joining, invited Justin, a whiz on the numbers, and built the Finance Department from literally nothing.
Alvin, the quiet and reserved senior from La Salle who asked what effect will the internship have on his academics if he fails a project, blew us away being the phenomenal strategic thinker and implementor of marketing campaign of our third start-up.
And the MA Industrial Psychology student Gritz is the person behind why we have top-class intern talent pool and the builder of our Human Capital department.
Yes, in a world where Internship means making coffee for everyone, photocopying documents and reports, wrapping birthday gifts for the Manager’s daughter and doing clerical tasks that requires minimal brain power, it really is crazy to give students and inexperienced professionals such massive responsibility.
Or is it?
Which is crazier?
To have young and vibrant minds, educated by the best schools in the country be available in a company’s disposal and ask them to put their brain on ice?
Or to tap their inexperience, unleash their brimming ideas and demand their best work in building departments, business and financial models, and companies?
So here’s the lesson, one I regret not learning earlier:
The campus is where the future is created.
Let’s not view them as mere students in need of direction since they don’t know their nose from their ears but as Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Corporate Leaders.
Final thoughts.
I can’t say this enough: our start-ups are built on intern blood. They are the backbone, the brains and the builders.
So yes, we’re foolish enough to believe that these young amateurs can, will and has began catalyzing change in the business landscape; all they needed is the opportunity to do so.
History is on our side: Larry Page. Sergey Brin. Mark Zuckerberg. Bill Gates. Steve Jobs.
So be crazy, because the people who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world are the ones who do.
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Florentino Hernando is the Managing Director of FA Hernando Consulting, a managment consulting firm with the mission to build great companies.
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