Are you looking for the perfect new hire right now? If the answer is yes, we feel your pain. It is difficult to find the perfect hire with the appropriate skill set and willingness to learn. Sometimes you are lucky to find what looks like the perfect fit for your job description only to hit a significant bump in the road.

This candidate may have the right experience, skills and enthusiasm about your company, but there is one sticking point: She is not the “ninja” you said you were looking for in the title of your job post. In fact, she has no ninja experience WHATSOEVER!   

Consider this: working alongside a Ninja is not all it is cracked up to be.

4 Reasons to Avoid Adding A Ninja to Your Team

Hiring managers, next time you are looking to hire a “Ninja” for your marketing or sales positions, consider these following characteristics that render Ninjas untrustworthy, sneaky and ultimately detrimental to your entire team.

1) They Don’t Specialize in Sales OR Marketing (Like, at all)

Ninjas, or Shinobi, began as covert agents in feudal Japan. They specialized in espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination and guerilla warfare.

Now, I don’t know about your Sales or Marketing team, but none of these qualities come to mind when I daydream the perfect digital marketer or inside sales representative.

Do they have an expansive skill set? Absolutely! Do their skills involve generating leads, nurturing customers or creating content? Nope!

2) They Are An HR Nightmare

Ninjas were considered dishonorable by the Japanese feudal era samurai caste. Their aforementioned “guerrilla warfare” was deemed dishonorable. Imagine this sort of sneaky behavior throughout your office!

Missing the sandwich you brought for lunch? You might find crumbs from your delicious creation on the all-black spandex of that ninja over in marketing.

Finding dozens of ninja stars embedded in the newly-painted walls of the break room? Guess who is not going to cop to launching them! Your new ninja hire, that’s who!

Ninjas and HR departments do not mix. No matter how many times your HR person calls said ninja into their office for a serious talk, things will not change.

3) They Are Self-Serving Spies

Having a ninja on your sales team is a mistake. Your other salespeople might find their customers stealthily stolen from beneath them. A ninja’s reputation for spying and generally dishonorable practices is unlikely to fit into your company culture or mission statement.

This sneakiness will cause a rift in your team and a feeling of distrust and suspicion throughout the office.

4) They Are Sneaky

Ninjas cannot seem to come in on time, grab a cup of coffee and work the day. Instead, they are constantly sneaking around corners, throwing stars while hidden in bathroom stalls and stalking in dark stairwells.

Ninjas’ penchant for hiding in the shadows will have your team constantly on edge, afraid of what is lurking around the corner armed with nunchucks or swords.

In Short,

Hire pretty much anybody but a ninja. Ninjas are agents of sabotage and thus, unlikely to work well with a team to achieve greatness. Focus instead on your company’s culture and goals for the future.

Instead of seeking out ninjas, decide what great qualities you are looking for without all the espionage and assassinations. And don’t get me started on the reasons not to hire a Rock Star….