Entrepreneur Conversations
Almost every owner has made one hiring mistake they remember
Hiring is one of the first things a growing business has to get right, and for most owners it is learned by getting it wrong once. In this conversation an owner describes a hire that did not work, what they overlooked, what it did to the rest of the team and how they dealt with it, and the room can ask what it would like to know.
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Owners talk about their good hires and keep the bad ones to themselves.
A wrong hire is embarrassing in a way that other mistakes are not, because it involves a person. Owners often handle it alone, quietly, and tell nobody. As a result a new owner may assume that good hiring is a talent they lack, when it is mostly a habit of checking that has to be built.
In a small business the cost of a wrong hire is larger than it looks. There is the time spent finding and training them, the work that was not done, the effect on colleagues who covered for it, and the owner's own attention. The conversation lets a room hear that cost described by someone who paid it.
The aim is not to blame the person who was hired, and the speaker is asked not to. A hire can fail because the role was unclear, the owner was in a hurry, or the person was wrong for the job; usually it is a mixture, and an honest account includes the owner's share.
What the speaker is briefed to cover
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts of one hire, from the gap in the business to what changed afterwards.
The Gap That Needed FillingWhy the role existed at all.5
- What was not getting done, and who had been doing it
- Whether the role was written down or only in the owner's head
- How urgent it felt, and whether that urgency affected the decision
- What kind of person they pictured, and how accurate that picture was
- What they were prepared to pay, in general terms
Speakers describe the role in general terms and are asked not to identify the person.
How the Hire Was MadeThe process, as it actually happened.5
- Where the candidate came from: a referral, an advertisement, someone known
- What the conversations covered and what they did not
- Whether references were taken, and what was done with them
- Whether the candidate was tested on real work
- What made the owner say yes
The Signs That Were ThereSeen only afterwards.5
This part is about the owner's judgement, not the other person's character. Speakers are asked to keep it that way.
- Things said or done in the first weeks that, looking back, mattered
- Doubts the owner had and talked themselves out of
- Warnings from colleagues or customers, and how they were received
- How long it took to admit that the hire was not working
- What the owner now watches for earlier
What It CostMore than the salary.5
- Work that was delayed, redone or lost
- The effect on the rest of the team and their trust in the owner
- Customers who noticed
- Time the owner spent that they could not spare
- The cost in confidence, which is harder to count
How It Was Dealt WithKept general and respectful.5
- When and how the owner raised the problem with the person
- Whether training, a changed role or a clear warning was tried first
- How the end was handled, in general terms, and what they would do differently
- How the team was told, and how much
- What they did to keep the person's dignity
Speakers do not give legal advice on notice, dismissal or settlement. Anyone with a live case is told to take professional advice for their own situation.
The Owner's Own PartThe hardest section to give honestly.5
- What they got wrong in the hiring, not only in the person
- Whether the role, the briefing or the support was unclear
- Whether they hired for how quickly they could start, or for fit
- Whether they would have kept the person if they had managed differently
- What it showed them about their own habits
What Changed in How They HirePractical, and specific to one business.5
- What they now ask, or ask for, before an offer
- Whether they give a short trial task or a probation conversation
- How they brief a new joiner in the first weeks
- Who else now meets the candidate
- What they would tell an owner making their first hire
What the speaker prepares
- One hiring mistake, told in order, with no names and no blame
- What they missed, and what they would look at differently now
- The effect on the team, described fairly
- A willingness to say what they still do not know about hiring
What the room can ask
- What was the first sign something was wrong?
- How long did you wait before acting, and was that too long?
- How did the rest of the team react?
- What do you ask now that you did not ask then?
- How do you hire when you are short of people and in a hurry?
- Have you made the same kind of mistake since?
How the conversation runs
The speaker tells the story in order for about fifteen minutes, without a presentation. A facilitator then takes questions from the room, written in advance or asked on the day, and asks the first one if the room is quiet. Before the session the speaker is briefed on not naming or criticising the person involved, not giving legal advice, and not promoting their business. The host chooses and invites the speaker, and agrees the audience and length with us.
What your students leave with
- A realistic picture of how a bad hire happens in a small business
- A list of questions an owner can ask before and after making an offer
- An understanding of the effect one wrong hire has on the rest of the team
- A sense of what a fair and respectful end to a failed hire looks like
- A better idea of how an owner's own part in the mistake shows up
- Questions to put to an owner who has changed how they hire
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Hear the hiring mistake from the person who made it, and ask what you would have asked.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.