Honing Your Hiring Process

Honing Your Hiring Process: 5 Key Steps to Avoid Bad Hires 

Let’s be honest—hiring mistakes are painful. I’ve made a couple in my career, and if you’ve been in business long enough, you probably have too. The good news? A bad hire often highlights flaws in the process, giving us a chance to improve. 

The key to consistent hiring success is having a process—one you can trust and refine over time. 

I’ve seen hiring done well and poorly, and I want to share my top 5 pieces of hiring wisdom to help you hire better: 

1. Don’t hire alone.

This one is simple but often overlooked. Hiring should be a team decision. Involve relevant team members in the interview process, and above all, make sure the new hire’s direct supervisor is part of the final decision. 

Why? Because no one will understand the role’s day-to-day challenges better. This isn’t just about alignment—it’s about accountability. 

1. Use a scorecard.

Subjectivity kills objectivity in interviews. That’s why I swear by a scorecard. 

• Identify the 5-10 most critical characteristics for success in the role. 

• Prepare a simple scoring system for each. 

• After each interview, take 5 minutes to score candidates. 

This forces you to consider more than whether you “like” someone—it brings structure to your judgment. 

1. Prepare the right questions.

Don’t wing it. Build a set of questions aligned with your scorecard. You don’t need to ask every single one, but having them ready ensures you get the answers you need. 

Interviews are short. Too many meander into unproductive territory, wasting precious time. Preparation brings focus. 

1. Avoid leading questions.

Here’s an example:

❌ “Are you detail-oriented?” – Of course they’ll say yes. 
✅ “Tell me about a time something slipped through the cracks. How did you handle it?” 

Experiential questions like this uncover how candidates really operate. You’re looking for evidence, not easy answers. 

1. Try to talk them out of the role.

This one feels counterintuitive but hear me out. 

In addition to selling candidates on your company, balance the pitch with reality. Be transparent about the role’s challenges and expectations. 

Why? Because the worst scenario isn’t losing a candidate—it’s hiring the wrong person. That’s far more expensive in time, energy, and dollars. 

Strong hiring processes build strong teams. And a strong team is what will carry your business into the future. 

If you’d like help refining your hiring process, feel free to shoot me a message—I’d love to connect. 

Hire well, my friends. 

The Spark Notes: 

1. Don’t hire alone—get the team involved, especially the direct supervisor, to make sure there’s alignment, accountability, and a clear understanding of the role’s challenges.

2. Use a scorecard to bring structure and objectivity to your decisions; it forces you to focus on what really matters instead of just whether you “like” someone.

3. Prep the right questions ahead of time and ditch the leading ones—ask for evidence, not easy answers, to see how candidates actually operate.

4. Be real about the role’s challenges and expectations; it’s better to lose a candidate upfront than hire the wrong person and regret it later.