Texas State University’s Jake Waddingham, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the McCoy College of Business at Texas State University, joins the Big Ideas TXST podcast to discuss the difficulties faced by entrepreneurs trying to reenter the traditional workforce. 

 

Americans launched new entrepreneurial ventures during the COVID pandemic at accelerated rates and those trends have continued through 2023. If any of these entrepreneurs decide to reenter the traditional workforce in the future, however, they may be in for an unwelcome surprise: a study coauthored by Waddingham showed that former business owners were less likely to get interviews compared with applicants with only traditional experience. This was true regardless of whether they had sold or closed their businesses. And the longer they were out of the traditional workforce, the worse their chances of success were. The surprising results were revealed in a survey of more than 700 hiring professionals as well as seven former entrepreneurs who successfully made the transition back into the workforce.

 

Waddingham received his MBA from Iowa State University and his Ph.D. in management from Auburn University. He has published in top management journals including the Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Small Business Management, and Business Horizons. Prior to joining academia, Waddingham worked as an associate editor of a daily newspaper in Creston, Iowa. He primarily covered breaking news, local politics, agriculture and sports.