In my introductory column, I discussed how we can help each other build better businesses and secure our place as the most valuable, innovative, influential and profitable group in the acquiring business. I'm a big believer in "co-opetition" -- cooperating and collaborating with people that we compete with every day.
   We all share common ground in the merchant acquiring business. One of the most important common ground issues we deal with daily is staffing and hiring. Who isn't looking for a few good men and women? And those men and women are very specific about what they're looking or as well. Some are looking to live in certain areas of the country while others are looking for certain areas of administration. Staffing and hiring is a common ground area where sharing of information helps all of us hire the best-qualified people.
   I've referred good people to our competitors who didn't perfectly meet my company's needs. In return, we've received many referrals that did meet our staffing requirements. This concept might sound crazy, but it's in your best business interest to help your competitors hire good people. Why do I want to help my competitor hire a good person and to avoid making a hiring mistake? Why should you do the same?
   We need to view our fellow ISO/MSP colleagues not as competitors but as allies. These people can help with risk management issues. They can help avoid doing business with bad sales reps. And, they can help with today's issue‹hiring good people.
   Let's face it. This is a small industry. We see the same people at each ETA event. It's in our best interest to develop these relationships into important sources of information. Sharing of information is key. For example, making it a point of letting colleagues know what positions are available within your organization is a good business.
   Recently, I got a phone call about a person who previously worked for our company. One of my competitors was considering hiring this person. That person had an impressive resume with solid experience. It's fortunate my competitor knew they could call me and get the real story. In this case, that person would not have been a good hire. Some people in the same position may have a knee-jerk reaction and think it would be a good thing for one of their competitors to make a bad hiring mistake. Not me.
   As we all know, a bad hiring mistake for a management position can create a huge disruption in your business ­ not to mention the wasted time and money. There's nothing worse for the morale of your existing employees than to hire a bad manager from outside the company. On the flip slide, if the person was really great, another knee-jerk reaction might be to not recommend the person for fear your competitor will get better. That's not the way to go. Helping your co-opetition improve their business will improve your relationship with them and strengthen cooperative support.
   Help your competitors build better businesses! Turn your competitors into your most valuable resource. What will be the result? We will all have better-run, better-managed and more profitable businesses. More merchants will want to do business with a non-bank organization. We will get treated more fairly by Visa, MasterCard, sponsor banks, credit card processing companies and other critical vendors. All of our businesses will thrive in this type of environment.
   It does not matter how you find you employees. You may use a placement agency that specializes in our industry. You may post your job opportunities on Internet placement sites. You may advertise in newspapers and trade publications. Once you have a good resume in your hands and after you've had discussions with the potential employee, you need to identify where and with whom these people have worked in the past. You need to use your co-opetition network to get the real answer to whether this person is someone you should hire. The references a person provides may not give you the information you need to make an intelligent hire. The best resource comes from either the owners of the companies they've worked with or from other people they worked with at those companies.
   A lot of progress has been made over the past ten years and especially in the past five years. The image of doing business with an ISO or MSP has changed from a sleazy one to an industry filled with well-run and well-managed organizations. It's due in part to the fact that many of us have started to share information and have decided to work together.

   "I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies." - Larry Bossidy