This comes with a warning. It’s going to hurt and some people might not like it.
Here is the hard truth: the job market doesn’t suck; your hiring process does.
If you are still blaming the market, you’re avoiding the mirror. Owners build hiring systems. Operators panic post and hope.
Case in point, everyone is saying “it’s a tough market, there aren’t good candidates.” But from post to offer letter, I hired a top candidate for my client in 11 days last week.
That’s the power of a proven process. Speed.
Sloppy Hiring Signs
How does sloppy hiring show up in a business?
It often looks like this:
- You post in a rush and pray the right person appears.
- You screen for years in a seat before testing how they think.
- You skip steps because the team is busy.
- You think you know who you need, but you didn’t do the prep work to get clear on who they are, what problems they solve, or what their accountabilities really are.
- Day one is a laptop, a login, and good luck. A sink or swim mentality is costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars a year or more.
World Class Hiring
In contrast, here is what a world class hiring process looks like:
- Scorecard first. Define the mission of the role, the accountabilities, and the behavioral (DNA) profile that equal success in the role.
- Filter on fit. Experience is 20 percent. Who they are in their DNA and personality are the 80 percent that really makes all the difference.
- Use the process to mirror the work. Design your process to test the things you know they need to have to succeed in this role, things like proactivity, attention to detail, and learning new tools.
- Step costs mapped. Know the full cost load of the hire on the business before you post.
- Onboarding that supports success. It isn’t sink or swim. You have a locked in, predictable, duplicatable 30-60-90 onboarding process that not only gets them trained and up to speed fast, but gets them to stick.
Conclusion
The proof is in the practice, not the theory. When you commit to and follow this process, it works. The 11 days to hire I shared above was not magic. It was an exact science. There were no shortcuts and no hoping and praying. It was just a proven process that is crystal clear and removes friction.
Here’s my challenge to you. Audit your hiring process. Set your ego aside and get really honest with yourself. Is it effective? Is it clear? Are you setting your people up for success or for struggle? See what’s working and what’s not. Where is the gap in your process? Then adjust it and, here’s the key, give it time. More businesses blow up from lack of patience than from anything else. You have to know when to kill something, and when it needs time to sprout.
Your people are your greatest asset. Stop treating them like a hurried afterthought who can read your mind, and you’ll stop wondering why you can’t find or retain the people you say you want.
