EVER THOUGHT OF HIRING AN INVENTOR?

By

Rick W. Williams

We are ALL looking to hire great people into our companies and we often go to great lengths to identify and recruit qualified candidates. Hiring good people almost always equates to better service and business. We have all heard some of the “guidelines” of hiring the right people. You know, people that played team sports are likely to be good “team players,” and it’s often true. And hiring Vets assures loyalty, stability and work ethic in an employee which when present, are desirable traits. But identifying critical skills like attention to detail, or the ability to think on your feet can be a bit more elusive. And with employment and privacy laws constantly reducing employer’s access to candidate information, it’s not getting any easier to get the insight you need when hiring. So, have you ever thought about identifying and maybe even hiring an inventor? Not appropriate you say, because your company is not in the technology industry, right…wrong. And come on, it’s OK admit it, when I mentioned the word inventor you momentarily pictured a bespectacled, socially-awkward person, clad in a weird tee shirt, with a wire festooned colander strapped to their head. And in a few cases you would be correct. But it’s a new world and things are changing fast, primarily because of people who could be classified as inventors. Could you be missing the boat by not at least asking a few questions?

Differentiating inventors by the different stages of effort, achievement and success might help us to better understand these potential applicants and how we might benefit as business owners and employers. With a few additions and clarifications to job applications and or interview questions, we could identify a few candidates we might normally overlook. With a little effort, a potential employer might actually be able to identify an applicant’s creativity, resourcefulness, or even work ethic. Sure, it’s easy for an applicant to say they can think on their feet. In fact, that’s what a hundred articles has advised them to say in a job interview. But getting an applicant to admit to being an “inventor of sorts,” the employer has a whole new line of inquiry for learning more about an applicant. Why not encourage these inventive, obviously determined and often misunderstood people by offering them an avenue to tell you more about themselves.

Maybe this person would be more open to talking more about themselves if you asked them if they ever considered themselves to be say…a… practical inventor. This would be a person who creates or does something original out of necessity or even convenience without the expectation of recognition or financial gain. In fact, the world is actually full of practical inventors. They are everywhere. They are our moms, uncles, brothers and neighbors. They build, create or modify common items into original gadgets, tools or even new ways of doing things. These people have the ability to create or do something original, out of a necessity or expedience and likely never even think about it. Doing it was just a means to overcome a problem they came up against while doing a task. This

ability will hardly seem worth mentioning by the practical inventor and would never show up on a resume. But this bit of information might be invaluable to the company that was looking for proven problem solvers.

Moving on we next have the active inventor. This person has set a goal to create or do something original with the hope of recognition and or financial gain. This is the person who likely has a stable day job and who thinks nothing of working on their own at night, spending literally years to get a patent that they hope will improve their life. They have learned to stay positive, are obviously patient and are not afraid to work extra if they believe it will give them the chance to improve their life. So, if your company were say looking for someone dependable, who can work on tasks independently or even keep a group energized and on task, finding an active inventor might be just what you need. But keep in mind, an active inventor usually has the goal of being recognized as part of getting a patent, so be sure to recognize their work achievements. And if YOU do the right things as the employer of an active inventor, they may just choose to stay with you even if they do get their patent.

The active inventor who stays the multiyear course, jumps through all the regulatory hoops, commits the funding and learns from their mistakes, may ultimately see success come in achieving the designation of patented inventor. Here is the person that has finally received an official, US registered, and catalogued designation as the “Inventor of Record,” for an original device or process patent. To be sure, this is no easy achievement and a patented inventor is to be recognized for their original thinking, financial investment and endless dedication that went into creating something that was actually patentable. To this point the patented inventor has all the traits of an active inventor, plus is a calculated risk taker, who is self-confident and able to follow mind-numbing procedures. Not unlike the traits an employer might look for to develop into a team leader or mid-manager. Of course, you could just ask the question on your application, “Do you consider yourself to be a leader?” and be totally confident when they check the “yes” box, right?

This would be a good time to note that there are active and even published inventors who actually work for companies that support and fund these inventors and their activities, directly or indirectly. And though the ideas and processes created by these institutional inventors are indeed unique and even patentable, the patenting efforts are generally funded, directed and monitored by the employer of the inventor. The patented institutional inventor may still be noted as the Inventor of Record on the US patent, but they may share that distinction with the employing company. And in many cases the patented institutional inventor has granted all or most ownership rights of the patent to their employer. Though the institutional inventor has proven their skill at original thinking, they may not exhibit all the other traits of an independent inventor.

The next type of inventor may be less likely to be applying for employment, so you would not run across one unless of course you actually seek to recruit successful inventors. This type of inventor is the rarest of them all and is often seen in electronic or print media. The professional inventor has progressed through all the stages of inventor

and then taken it to the next level. The professional inventor has not only achieved the designation of patented inventor, but they have gone to the next level in selling or licensing their patent for financial gain. So not only has this person suffered the “slings and arrows” that go with becoming an Inventor of Record, they have shown the additional ability to identify markets for the patent and then determine what companies could benefit from the patented item or process. Ultimately, they put together a successful proposal(s) that clearly demonstrated how the buyer would financially benefit from licensing or buying the patent and negotiated the deal. Sounds like just the kind of skills you might seek out for an executive position in a start-up company or maybe a market expert for a business consulting firm. Hmmm.

Of course, hiring ANY employee is still a risk, unless of course you have developed mind reading abilities. And I don’t promise that hiring any type of inventor will guarantee you’re getting a better quality employee than a non-inventor. What I do promise is that if you find a way to integrate inventor related questions into you interviews, it will likely draw out much more information about the individual and their background. Applications, employment and background checks are good tools for getting a two-dimensional picture of a job applicant and should be done as a matter of course. But if and or when it progresses to interviewing an applicant, you just might gain some valuable additional insight if you add an inventor related question or two to your interview.

Oh and a friendly word of warning. If they ever tell you there is an individual out in the reception area with a wire covered colander on their head filing out a job application, be very careful what you think…they just might be reading your mind with their newest invention.