I have interviewed people whose resume claims that they have five or six or 10 years of experience. Some of them I have hired only to find out that their so-called 10 years of experience was actually one year of experience 10 times. In other words, after their first year on the job they learned very little, if anything.

These are the same people who, when you ask them why they are doing something a particular way, will answer, “This is the way we have always done it.”

WARNING! Whenever you get that sort of answer, be sure to make a mental note to yourself to look into that particular procedure the first chance you get because it can probably be improved or, better yet, totally eliminated.

Being an entrepreneur for many years it is difficult for me to understand how some people can blindly keep doing some sort of job without ever giving any thought to why they are doing it and whether it could be improved in some way. It seems to be that “The boss told me to do it that way” is sufficient reason for them to keep doing it that way.

There is a story I heard once — probably apocryphal — about what they did in Detroit on the automobile assembly line. Whenever they had a particular problem spot on the line that was difficult or extra tedious, they would put their laziest worker at that station. Within two days he would have the problem fixed some way or another so that he had time to read the newspaper between operations.

That’s the “talent” every employer is looking for — the talent and initiative to be constantly looking for a way to make things easier, faster or more efficient.

The employer may initiate and approve a particular procedure and then assign one of his employees to perform that task. After say, two weeks, who do you suppose is now the “expert” at that procedure? I guarantee it’s not the employer; it’s the person who’s been doing it for eight hours a day for the past two weeks.

If only that same employee would have enough initiative to come to the boss and say, “Hey boss, I think I found an easier way to do my job.”

Would the employer be pleased to hear about a new way that can save time? You be he would. Would he be interested in a way that doesn’t necessarily save time but makes it easier for the employee to perform? Yes to that, too.

Why? Because if it’s easier for the employee, his rate of production will be more constant during the day instead of tiring him out by 1 p.m. and have his production drop for the rest of the day. Or make his quality more consistent from the beginning of the shift till it’s over.

And lastly, would it not behoove the employer to reward that employee with a bonus or a bump in his pay rate? Too bad so few employers understand that.