How to Hire A Good Fit for Your Business

On Your First Attempt

I’ve hired hundreds of people. Maybe thousands. And I’ve fired many, many people too. Through 15 years of building teams, I’ve noticed some very clear patterns in what works and what doesn’t when it comes to finding the right person for the job

Two Things to Avoid Straight Away

The cheapest option

I get the temptation. When you’re on a budget, going for the lowest price feels responsible. But cheap freelancers are cheap for a reason — they’re struggling to find work because they don’t have the technical skills, the track record, or the reliability to land consistent work.

When you hire a low-cost option, you feel great for the first few weeks because you’re “saving money.” Then the problems start. Work needs to be redone, deadlines are missed, communication is poor. Two or three months later you’re back at square one, except now you’ve wasted a bunch of time, energy, and money.

Invest in quality from the start. You end up saving in the long run.

I’m not talking about spending $50 - 100 / hour on staff. You can find incredible offshore staff at a fraction of that cost who do excellent work. They can afford to charge far less because the cost of living is lower in the countries where they live. But go for best of that bunch, not the cheapest.

Hiring your friends

This one might feel counterintuitive. They’re right there, you trust them, and you know what you’re getting because you’ve been friends with them for years. But in my experience, hiring friends almost always creates complications.

The issue is that you can’t hold a friend to the same professional standards without risking the friendship. Giving honest feedback becomes hard. Firing a friend if it doesn’t work out is very difficult. But putting off the critical feedback, or the fire, causes the business to suffer as a result.

When you hire someone who is purely a team member, you can be clear, direct, and hold high standards without the emotional complication. That clarity is good for your business and, honestly, it’s good for everyone involved. It’s much easier to find the right person for the job when you can be that honest about what you need.

What to Screen for: Character, Competence, and Commitment

These are the three things I look for in every single hire (Thanks Leila Hormozi for this great framework!). Heres the break down.

Character

What kind of person are they? For an admin role, for example, I’m looking for detail orientation, diligence, and quick responsiveness. For a customer-facing role, warmth and emotional intelligence matter. Think carefully about what character traits your specific role requires, not just a generic “hard worker.” Teaching skills is achievable. Teaching character is much more difficult, so hire the person with the right character from the beginning.

Competence

This is about non-negotiable technical skills. Can they actually do the work from day one? I assess this by reviewing past work — portfolios, samples, previous outputs. A graphic designer should be able to show me excellent designs that they’ve already done. A video editor must be able to show me outstanding edits. It’s easy to say “I’m a great video editor”, but their work is the true revealer of their level of skill.

Commitment

Are they genuinely on board for what the role requires? This means being explicit in the hiring process: “This role requires you to respond to inquiries within 24 hours on a business day. Are you on board with that?” Be upfront about your expectations. This enables the candidate to enter into real, honest agreements with you, right from the beginning.

My Hiring Process: Application, Work Test, Interview, Trial

Here’s the process I use to hire most team members

Application form with targeted questions designed to reveal character, competence, and commitment. I usually get 100 - 200 applications for a role.
Shortlist to 5 - 10 candidates, based on their responses.
Work test: give the shortlist real tasks that mirror what the role involves and assess the quality of their output. This gives real confirmation of their competence.
Interview: dig deeper. Ask about specific results they’ve achieved, how they handle scenarios relevant to your business, and double-check their commitment to the parts of the role that might be challenging. This is a great way to reveal character and commitment.
Three-month trial period: set clear expectations that they’re still being assessed. Keep your shortlist handy as a backup just in case. This is the ultimate demonstration of all 3 - competence, character and commitment.

You Don’t Have to Navigate This Alone

Hiring well is a skill, and it takes time to develop. If you’d prefer to hand over the process to me, that’s what the Unicorn Staffing Agency is here for. We find you the “unicorn” that you’re after. With us, you’ll hire once and get the right person right from the beginning.

If you’d like to find out more, I’d love to have a free chat with you about what you need. You can book in a call by clicking here.