4 Keys to Hiring Top Talent in Your Agency
An agency isn’t an agency without a team. Kind of obvious, right? But that’s why it’s imperative that as you grow and develop your team, the people you’re choosing are the RIGHT people.
Over the course of my 7 years as an agency owner, and my 4 years as an agency coach, I’ve seen and experienced it all. I’ve hired dream team members who don’t need to be micromanaged, always give 100%, and intend to stick around for the long haul.
But I’ve also hired a few doozies. Subcontractors who lacked communication skills, exaggerated their skill level, failed to meet deadlines and were not a good culture fit. And you know why 99% of those hires happened?
Because I was rushing the process!
So in today’s blog, I’m sharing 4 things every agency owner should do to hire top talent in their agencies.
Learn More About the Agency Alliance Membership!
Key #1 - Don’t Hire Reactively
I shared above that the #1 reason nightmare hires happen is because the agency owner was rushing the process. This often occurs when an agency owner is hiring out of desperation.
When you’ve hit or far exceeded your capacity - juggling the responsibilities of a CEO while still in the weeds of client implementation - you’re desperate to get help and lighten your load. But that desperation and panic can cloud your judgment and lead to hiring someone quickly without properly vetting them.
It’s the same when you’re expanding your team. Once your team members have reached capacity, you’ll begin to see more mistakes being made, clients not feeling as supported as they once did, and the subcontractor’s usual quality of work begins to diminish.
But burnout and overwhelm CAN be avoided when you…
HIRE PROACTIVELY!!
Instead of waiting until you’re maxed out, anticipate the need and start the hiring process when you or your team is at 70 - 80% capacity.
At this point, you or your team might be feeling slightly stretched, but the quality of work isn’t being impacted. It also gives you time to not only hire a new team member, but to also onboard and train them long before anyone reaches their full workload capacity.
▶️ Related Youtube Video: Hiring A Players for Your Remote Agency
Dive deeper into this topic, by watching this video, where I share 3 quick tips on how to hire and keep excellent team talent for your remote agency, including one tip about how to onboard well.
Key #2 - Be Clear in Your Job Description
When putting together your job description, remember to be as detailed and clear as possible. If your job description is vague, without a clear job title, a list of anticipated responsibilities, or your agency’s specific needs and wants - you’re going to attract every subcontractor under the sun.
And believe me, you do not want to be sorting through dozens of job applications from people who are obviously not a good fit for this role! That is valuable time you can not get back.
While we want the job description to weed out any subcontractors who are obviously not a good fit, we also don’t want this role to be unattainable. That’s where your needs vs wants lists come in.
Consider, what are your non-negotiables for this role? Maybe it’s their level of experience in a specific skill set, their daytime availability, or where they’re located.
But also consider, what are things that would be nice to have, but aren’t a deal breaker. For example: while it would be nice for this new hire to be experienced in the platforms you use, that is something that can easily be taught during onboarding.
Create a job description that is unique to your agency, so you can find the right fit for YOU!
🎧Related Podcast Episode: Breaking Down the Me to We Framework
The Me to We Framework is my signature 6-step process to take you from being a solopreneur to being able to fully embrace the CEO role in your agency. Includes everything from “agency-fying” your offer, hiring, and handling those nasty mindset gremlins that will inevitably creep up!
Key #3 - Hire for Soft Skills Too
You might hire the most organized VA, creative graphic designer or eloquent copywriter… but if their personalities don’t jive with you or the rest of the team things are going to go south real quick.
Your hires should not only be talented in their zone of genius, but they should also align with your agency’s mission, vision and values.
In my opinion, soft skills are just as, if not more, important than hard skills.
So, look for signs of these qualities:
Do they come prepared?
Are they prompt and respectful of your time?
Did they give through and well thought out answers?
Do they have the ability to problem solve?
What leadership qualities do they have?
Can professionally resolve issues with other team members or clients?
HOT TIP: In all of my job applications, I include a section for applicants to include their scores for different personality assessments, like Enneagram, StrengthFinders or Kolbe-A. If you know your own scores, this will help you identify whether or not you’d be able to work well with that person.
🎧Related Podcast Episode: How to Infuse Mission, Vision, Values into Your Agency's Day to Day
Mission and vision statements are not something you simply draft when you first start your business, and never touch again. In fact, they should be a tool that constantly guides your agency! In this episode, I share practical tips on how to infuse these statements into the daily life of your business.
Key #4 - Establish a multi-step hiring process
When done correctly, choosing your next team member should not happen overnight. It takes time to properly vet applicants and ensure they are the best fit for the role.
In my experience, it takes more than a completed job application and one interview to feel confident in a new hire.
In my program, The Agency Alliance Membership, I teach a 10 step hiring process that begins with deciding exactly what support your agency needs to onboarding and next steps!
And as you develop your own hiring process, make sure that with each step, you gain more clarity on who is and who is not the best person for this position.
By incorporating these 4 keys into your hiring process, I guarantee you will have a much higher success rate with bringing new team members into your agency.
Now, let me assure you, you’re never going to get it right every time (it happens to the best of us). But if you slow down, hire proactively and look at the applicant as a whole - your chances of hiring AND retaining top talent are pretty darn good.
Liked this topic? We go into more detail on how to Hire Your A-Team inside my membership for online agency owners, Agency Alliance!
I created The Agency Alliance to help you build the agency of YOUR dreams in an affordable, approachable, easy-to-implement container that's popping bottles full of delicious agency-tailored support!
Let’s Stay Connected
If you’re ready to get out of the doing in your online business, and ready to begin exploring the possibilities of an online agency model, I have lots of good resources to help you on your journey. I encourage you to check out my How She Did That podcast, and my Shop full of mini-courses and trainings!
Send me a DM on Instagram with any questions you have about agency ownership! @thetashabooth
- Tasha Booth, Agency Coach & Owner of The Launch Guild
Tasha Booth is an agency owner, podcaster, coach. She is the Founder & CEO of The Launch Guild - a full service launch support agency working with established coaches and course creators with Course & Podcast Launches. Her team works together to support their clients in being able to focus back onto their zones of genius.
She is passionate about helping women build profitable and sustainable agencies that they love, so they can fully step into the CEO role and create a life they dream of - one where naps are ALWAYS encouraged.
