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Ask HN: Why Nobody wants to hire a failed Entrepreneur?

6 points by msurocks ↗ HN
After one year of leaving my full time job and starting my own venture it failed brutally, I learned a lot things but to get again on my feet I need to get hold of a job to survive. But I found out not many of the employers are willing to hire failed entrepreneurs, why is that?

11 comments

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mindcrime
Not enough information. I really don't think there's any overall pervasive sentiment of "don't hire failed entrepreneurs" out there. Sure, some individuals may have a bias like that, but there's no real justification for it. If you're having trouble finding something new, maybe you're looking in the wrong places, or you need to tweak your resume, etc.

Can you share more about what your background/skills are, what kind of work you're looking for, etc? Maybe somebody here could help you if you do...

df3
I've interviewed many "failed' entrepreneurs for jobs, and having started any kind of venture or project is almost always a benefit.

My guess is you are jumping to negative conclusions about yourself based on incorrect assumptions about how hiring works. How many jobs have you applied to? How relevant are they to your qualifications? Rejection rates for jobs are very high, and it's common to be rejected for multiple positions.

You might also want to look at other factors such as your interview style, perceived ability to focus, fit with a company's culture, and other factors that also highly influence hiring decisions.

And finally, instead of thinking about, "What doesn't anyone want me," why not think about, "Who would want me and why?"

msurocks
Applied to more than 200 I guess and I believe most of them are relevant to my qualifications. I have worked for a company for straight 4 years so that kind of proves my ability to focus.

One thing that could matter that I am looking for a remote job from a third world country while even most of the remote companies say they hire candidates from everywhere but it seems their primary choice is US and Canada or Europe. You can read my story here, https://medium.com/@msuworld/desperately-seeking-a-remote-jo...

df3
Thanks for sharing-- posting this on Medium is smart and takes a lot of courage.

This stuck out as me as a red flag: "I can do any kind of technical support, virtual assistance or project management type of job."

People who say they can do it all are usually passed over because people usually can't do it all. Make sure each application is tailored perfectly to each position. If you are applying to project management, edit your CV job descriptions and application to focus mainly on project management-related stuff.

Don't say you can do project management and customer service. Hiring managers get a lot of general applications from people promising to do it all, when in reality they just want to determine your suitability for the position they have open in their other browser tab.

id122015
maybe you need to fail more times. You know what they say in the valley: if you are still not successful, you havent failed enough.
msurocks
LOL :) yes, I will start over but looking for something to hold myself together again.. You know what I mean.
moshiasri
you have given the answer to your self my friend, read the article you have written on medium, and if you are a really sensible person, "which i believe you are" you will find the reason for not being hired..

*just a hint there are to many but's in the early introductory paragraphs of your post.

msurocks
Fixed the but portion. Thanks for the review man, Could you please point out any other reasons.