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I see what you're saying. But let's put it a different way. Let's say I need a technician. If I have an existing employee who can move into that role, great,

I see what you're saying. But let's put it a different way. Let's say I need a technician. If I have an existing employee who can move into that role, great, but I'm a small organization, like many others. Otherwise I have to hire one. Some technicians will have no experience as a tech, others will have 1 year experience, others will have more. If I can hire one with more, it's likely a better hire, even at a higher rate. Otherwise I have to hire the inexperienced one. This is where I disagree that aptitude is more important. The experienced tech has probably already demonstrated aptitude. The new grad/career riser's aptitude I'd have to guess based on references and interview. The inexperienced person would not be able to hit the ground running. In order to have that person ready for the moment they were needed, I would have to have a lot of slack in a very small organization. It'd be a lot different if I were a manager at Siemens needing a new mechanical engineer.

PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
That makes sense as far as it goes. But it also means that you are implicitly relying on the existence of other organizations to train people to a level where you feel you can hire them. That's OK, as long as you don't try to deny this. Why do I think that's important? Because those other organizations are carrying the costs of training for you. Should they want some sort of social payback (of any kind) to reflect this, it seems wise to me that you'd recognize the benefit that you accrue from this sort of thing, and be supportive of it.