Does being an entrepreneur reduce my employability? [closed]

Question

I'm a CEO of an ecommerce startup. I'm currently networking with fellow entrepreneurs and people who are related to the industry around the country. As this is a startup, I'm not sure if this would fail or succeed. If this fails, I might want to become an employee, for a short period at least. Does being an entrepreneur reduce my future employability?

Answer 1

Does being an entrepreneur reduces the employability.?

I find that it does, working for yourself has many benefits and a bunch of headaches. But in terms of applying for jobs many interviewers don't like it. Entrepreneurs tend to be unknown entities. You don't know how they performed on their last job, because any reference from their company is suspect. They were the boss.

You also don't know if they'll have another great idea and leave you in a short period, or whether they will not only leave you but take some clients with them.

There's many other factors as well.

Preference is normally given to those in the workforce who have proven track records and less ambition. Depending of course on the interviewer and the position. Personally I wouldn't pick the entrepreneur all else being equal, despite being one myself.

In one other scenario being an entrepreneur can be an big advantage. I get unsolicited permanent job offers fairly frequently from clients and their networks, because I'm reasonably well known, and I know quite a few small entrepeneurs who have ended up working for their clients full time. In this scenario they negotiated from a stronger position than an unknown.

Answer 2

Does being an entrepreneur reduces the employability?

It depends. Which employee job would you likely pursue if this start-up fails?

Examples:

• Would you apply for a developer position?
  • If you coded big parts of your eCommerce website or devised the architecture then you would be very employable. If neither, then employers might wonder how you made a difference.
• Would you apply for a business position?
  • If you can demonstrate revenue and/or earnings growth (even if it was neither sufficient nor sustainable), then you will be very employable. If neither, then employers might wonder how you made a difference.

Answer 3

I hope your adventure succeeds.

I do not think that it matters. Perhaps the references may be problematic. But this is true for people taking time out for family/health commitments. But think of the benefits you can bring to a job in the event of not being a boss

• Self motivated
• Good at organization
• Drive and ambition
• Have multiple talents (marketing, bookeeping along with the specialisation you are selling).
• Presentation skills. All those soft skills that you had to employ

There are a lot of positives to employing an entrepreneur. Do not focus on the negatives.

Answer 4

For the benefit of completion, some arguments on how employability could be reduced:

1. You will not fit in a specific box, which might be problematic for some companies (X years of experience doing Y). You were not doing X full time so it doesn't fit how they view the world.
2. Focused on result vs not stirring the waters and the political/bureaucratic aspects of a business. In many companies respecting the hierarchy is more important even than serving customers. By being on the trench every day you are used to operate differently.
3. Again where to fit in corporate hierarchies: are you a manager? You might have taken managerial decisions but only for very few people, a technical person? No you have also managed. I have found myself being in interview situations where the interviewer was trying to map myself to the org chart of the organization.

My take is that your experience does not increase or reduce employability, it changes it: for some places you will be more employable for some others less.

Answer 5

This depends strongly on the culture in the place where you look for jobs, and on the actual job you're applying for. In some cultures the failure of the start up is more important than the experience the startup provided, and in some cultures it's the other way around.

If you're applying for a position with a high degree of freedom, knowing the entirety of a business is clearly a positive.

If you're applying for a position that places an emphasis on following orders, knowing that you haven't had to follow orders for a while is clearly a negative.

Instead of becoming an employee for a shorter period at least, I'd personally look into contracting, as that's much easier to sell with a self-employed background.