Hiring Doesn’t Have to Feel Like a Gamble

I had the chance to work with a leadership team recently, and like so many others, their biggest challenge wasn’t just hiring—it was hiring the right people.

They had a solid team, a great culture, and knew what they wanted in a new hire… but when it came to interviewing, things got messy.

How do you ask the right questions? How do you get real, useful answers instead of rehearsed ones? And most importantly—how do you compare candidates in a way that actually makes decision-making easier?

Making Interviews Make Sense

A great interview isn’t just about asking questions. It’s about asking the right questions—ones that actually tell you something about the person sitting across from you.

When I worked with this team, we focused on three things:

✔ Getting clear on what they were actually looking for—beyond just checking off qualifications.

✔ Structuring interviews to get meaningful, comparable responses instead of a collection of random notes.

✔ Using simple tools to confirm skills—because “I can do that” and actually being able to do that are two very different things.

One big shift? Every candidate needed to go through the same structured process. Because without that, comparing them later felt impossible.

Proving Skills, Not Just Talking About Them

Here’s the thing—anyone can say they have experience. But can they back it up?

We worked on crafting real-world exercises that could be incorporated into the interview. The goal? Make sure candidates actually have the skills they say they do—without making them feel like they were being put to the test.

Because here’s what was happening before: A candidate would give a great interview, get hired, and then… 30 days in, it became clear they weren’t the right fit. Thousands of dollars (and hours of leadership time) gone—just like that.

By adding skill-based exercises, this team wasn’t just hiring on instinct anymore. They were hiring with confidence.

Why This Work Lights Me Up

I love simplifying things. Whether it’s hiring, retention, or making LinkedIn profiles work for you, my goal is always to take something that feels overwhelming and make it clear, doable, and actually enjoyable. And nothing feels better than watching a team go from “We don’t even know where to start” to “We’ve got this.”

Hiring shouldn’t be a guessing game—it should be a clear, confident process.