How do you know your new hire has the skills to do the job?

Hiring a new employee is already time-consuming due to onboarding and training, but it becomes even more detrimental to the business if you later discover they aren’t as skilled as their resume and interview led you to believe.

In this episode of Automate Your Agency, Alane and Micah are pulling back the curtain on their hiring process—and trust us, it’s more exciting than a surprise party with free pizza! Tune in to find out how integrating creative skill challenges into your traditional hiring practices can help you find those rare unicorns who don’t just fit the job description but actually make your business sparkle.

Why Listen? 👇

• (0:18) Hear the Evolution of Our Hiring Process
• (4:08) Learn How to Implement Skill Challenges
• (6:38) Discover Ways to Measure Nuanced Attributes in Job Interviews
• (9:55) Gain Insight on Optimize Hiring Processes for Long-Term Growth and Efficiency

Are you ready to integrate a skills challenge strategy in your own hiring process? Check out our quick reference implementation guide that is packed with actionable steps and insights straight from Alane and Micah's proven playbook!

Better Hiring with Skills Challenges

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Chapters

• 0:18 The Evolution of Our Hiring Process
• 4:08 Presenting Challenge Scenarios for Proof of Work
• 6:38 Measuring Reactionary Abilities in Job Interviews
• 9:55 Optimizing Hiring Processes for Long-Term Growth and Efficiency

Transcript

0:00:00 - (Alane): Welcome to Automate Your Agency. Every week we bring you expert insights, practical tips, and success stories that will help you streamline your business operations and boost your growth. Let's get started on your journey to more efficient and scalable operations.

0:00:18 - (Micah): Okay, so let's talk about our hiring process, because one of the things that we added, which we have never stopped doing since, was being able to provide a scenario to somebody and having them do. I don't like the word test, but essentially a skills assessment. Yeah, I don't like that either. I don't know, how would you describe it? 

0:00:44 - (Alane): Proof of work! Examples of work done.

0:00:45 - (Micah): Okay. All right. Yeah. So in our last business, as we were scaling the agency, we need to hire fast. And we needed to make sure we hired the right people, because getting that wrong was detrimental to everything. It was costly, it slowed us down.

0:01:00 - (Alane): One of us had to jump in to fill in the gap. It just was horrible. If we had to replace them because we didn't want to back hire, we needed to keep hiring for growth.

0:01:11 - (Micah): Yep. Yep. So one of the things that I think this was your idea actually, originally, was as we were scaling the account management team, we needed to know that they could manage accounts, that they could come up with ideas for our clients and think outside the box. There were all these attributes that we wanted in our perfect hire that would be great for the team. Outside of personality. Like, personality is completely separate from this.

0:01:39 - (Micah): So, I mean, I think you have some stories that were some really, really great and impressive ones.

0:01:47 - (Alane): Yeah, one of them. And I think it was the first time that I put this into place, where I put in the job ad that you needed to send me at least three examples of social media posts that you've written. You could either make them up or it could be real businesses. One of the things that I was learning through us hiring is we needed creative people. It didn't mean that they had to be doing social media before that. In fact, nobody really had been doing this for businesses. Like, we were so early in this game of social media management for businesses that people didn't have four years of content management behind them.

0:02:23 - (Micah): Especially complex, multilocation, multi brand. They faced far different issues in social and reputation than just a standard one location company.

0:02:37 - (Alane): Yeah. So I put in the job ad that you had to submit three examples of work, real or fake. And it also helped reduce the amount of applications that we would get for these positions. We would get 250, because everybody wanted to be a social media content writer at this time.

0:02:58 - (Micah): Yeah. To put it in context. This was very, very early in the social media phase.

0:03:03 - (Alane): Yes.

0:03:04 - (Micah): So this was right when everybody was like, this is the next big thing. Kind of like where AI and automation is today.

0:03:11 - (Alane): Yeah. And so we did this, and I remember really starting to doubt myself because we weren't getting a lot of applications, and the ones we were getting were just mediocre. And I'm like, "Man, this is kinda…."

0:03:25 - (Micah): Yeah, we have to hire. We're against the gun here.

0:03:27 - (Alane): Yeah. My idea is not maybe working out. And then it was to the point where I was just gonna have to start interviewing anybody that had applied, and we got this magic one, and it was incredible. He had no experience in social media. I think he was a waiter.

0:03:48 - (Micah): Now, to put this in context of timeline, though, because you and I are very impatient when we want something to happen. I can't even finish the word impatient. I'm so impatient. It's like, when we want something to happen, we want it to happen now. So timeline wise, we're not talking months. We're probably talking four days.

0:04:08 - (Alane): Oh, this was probably 30 days, because I think the ad was about to expire. Okay, so this one really was.

0:04:14 - (Micah): This one did take a while.

0:04:15 - (Alane): This one, yeah. I mean, 30 days. Still, in the grand scheme of things.

0:04:18 - (Micah): On the scheme of hiring. Right. You find a great person within 30 days, you're doing great.

0:04:23 - (Alane): Yeah. And so I remember the ad was about to expire, and this trickled in, like, 24 hours before it was supposed to expire. And so this guy, he had no experience. He was a waiter, and he's in his, I guess, cover letter and examples. He was like, you know what? I've never done this before, but I made up a company, and he had me at that. He named it suds and Buds, a washeteria. So you could get your. Wash your clothes and also drink beer or other beverages while you're waiting for it.

0:04:58 - (Alane): And I'm like, this is awesome. So he then created not just three. All he needed to do was create three social media posts. He created Facebook posts, Twitter posts. At the time, that app where you would check in was really popular.

0:05:16 - (Micah): Foursquare.

0:05:17 - (Alane): Foursquare. Okay. That's what I was gonna say, but it didn't sound right. Foursquare, he created check in offers so that you would get 15% off of your laundry with the purchase of a drink or something like that. He came up with, like, didn't he.

0:05:29 - (Micah): Have logos or something?

0:05:30 - (Alane): Logos made, yes, everything made for this made up business that he created in his head. Logos, everything. And I was ready to hire this guy before even interviewing him. It blew my mind. He put so much effort. It was so creative. And I remember emailing him almost immediately, as soon as I saw this, and I was like, hey, I'd like to schedule your first interview. Can you come in at this time? And we offered him a position.

0:06:02 - (Alane): We have a multi step hiring process, so we have multiple interviews. And I was just, like, so hungry to hire this guy that I didn't want to go through the process, but he was one of the best hires that we ever worked with us for years, four years, I would hire him at this business. Yes. He was incredible, had so many ideas, and we needed that, that creative side in our company. And so these, now we, now with all of our hiring, we do these types of work. Examples or not. You know, we don't like to say test. We just want to be able to see your work. Even a software developer, we want to see something. 

0:06:38 - (Micah): Yeah, a resume and your history doesn't tell us how you react to certain situations, certain scenarios, how your brain comes up with ideas or, you know, handles different things. I think the power of loom these days, where people can now record their screens, and walk us through narrating as they go of why they did something, why they had this idea, why they chose to go this direction. Shortcuts this a lot, because if I remember right, we evolved this to the final interview, or the final step of the interview process was presenting ideas to leadership, like doing a presentation, again, testing how would they present in front of the client. So we became the clients, quote unquote.

0:07:23 - (Micah): And the applicant that made it through the process would have to present to us as if we were the clients. Their idea of how to do whatever it was for the role.

0:07:35 - (Alane): Yeah, and that was a different role. That was for our account management team, because we needed to be able to see their presentation skills. They got to come up with whatever idea they wanted to go through. We weren't controlling that. So they were knowledgeable on something that they were presenting. But the key that I was looking for, not just in presentation on those were, how are their sales skills?

0:08:00 - (Alane): Because as an account manager, even if you're not selling to them, you were always selling to them. You want them to stay with the company, so you're looking for language that keeps you engaged. How do they do when you throw them a dodgeball in the middle of the conversation? I remember one. This guy created these.

0:08:19 - (Micah): I think it's curveball.

0:08:21 - (Alane): Curveball. Thanks, Micah. I don't know why I tried doing those things. Those are, they never work out for me.

0:08:27 - (Micah): Dodgeball works.

0:08:29 - (Alane): I mean, you know, whatever. You know, those, they were popular when breweries really started popping up. But those wooden six pack carriers, like they hold a six pack, they've got a little bottle opener on the side. It was really cute. So this guy that was interviewing, he built those, and so he did his presentation on the value of a brewery carrying these custom made ones as a upsell for their brewery.

0:08:56 - (Alane): And he would partner with the breweries and stuff. He made all this up, although he did actually make these, these wooden carriers. Well, it just so happens that I had made one a couple years before that. So while he's presenting, I had a picture saved, and I pulled that picture up and I said, you know what, I'm so sorry. We're already partnered with another company that does those. And I was so impressed with them. He immediately went on the benefits of his over the one that I shared with him. And he was right. His was by far superior than what I had made.

0:09:32 - (Alane): But that's what you're looking for in an account manager when they're thrown a curveball, how do they deal with somebody saying, no, I've already got this, I don't need that anymore. Then those kind of things you're looking for. So we've now put these types of examples of work, or put people.

0:09:55 - (Micah): Now, we didn't hire that guy because he bashed your six pack carrier and you were like, no way am I hiring this guy.

0:10:02 - (Alane): No, we did hire him, and he was fantastic. But, you know, we've taken this concept and applied it to all the positions because it is so insightful to see. You know, not every. It definitely depends on the position that we're hiring for, on what type of examples we're looking for. They don't only account managers and salespeople really do some type of presentation like that in front of us. But we do sometimes ask for a recorded loom video on their thought process behind what they did.

0:10:30 - (Micah): Absolutely. It's honestly too expensive just to hire and hope that they're getting.

0:10:37 - (Alane): That they know how to actually do the job.

0:10:38 - (Micah): Yeah. That they're getting what you're laying down, that they understand the business. That, you know, on paper it could sound great, but in practice, just doesn't work.

0:10:48 - (Alane): It doesn't.

0:10:49 - (Micah): And you can't afford 30 or 60 days of a hiring process, 30 to 90 days of a new hire, trying to find their footing. It just doesn't add up. Like, you can't grow a company fast enough for that, you throw away way too much money, especially if you're bootstrapping.

0:11:07 - (Alane): Oh, my gosh. Yeah. And so having these things in place, it does add time to the hiring process. But we still go through this fast. It's not like, hey, we're going to do an interview and then a month later we're going to send you what we need. This is still fast moving. So we can find the hidden gems and hire them quickly and get them started.

0:11:27 - (Micah): Yep. And this is, this definitely falls in that category of, you might spend more time upfront, but you're going to save ten x in the long run because if you repeat that as you're growing with multiple hires and you're spending that ten x instead of saving that ten x, your growth just halts.

0:11:44 - (Alane): Yeah. And there's things along the way that we've learned. Like for content writers, this was back in the day. You know, we would go through the hiring process. They were super creative. They crushed it on the content that they made. But they have to write lot they have. So they're typing constantly. And one of the things we realized is that not everybody knows how to.

0:12:06 - (Micah): Type or it can type fast. Fast.

0:12:09 - (Alane): So one of the things that we added is a typing test. How fast can you type? And if you're not great, that's okay. We will still hire you, but we're going to help you improve your skills. Because if you can only type two words a minute, you're going to be a very costly employee for us. But that is a skill we can train on that isn't detrimental to you doing the job if you're willing to learn. And so we would just put in extra training for people that we found didn't have the skills that we needed.

0:12:37 - (Micah): Totally. Totally. And I think, you know, this is a slightly different topic. I don't want to get off on a tangent on this. You hear that saying, higher, slow, fire fast, and there's some gray area in there for sure. Right. You can't just say, oh, not a good fit. They don't know how to type, they're done. You could fire fast on that. But is that if they're great personality wise, if they're great skill wise and they have one or two things that need some work, then as a leader, as an employer.

0:13:09 - (Micah): Right. It's in your better interest to try to support that and set them up for success.

0:13:15 - (Alane): Absolutely. I mean, sometimes those little skill parts throughout the hiring process isn't a to tell you to not to hire them. It's to tell you where the gaps are. So if you do hire them, you know where training is needed.

0:13:28 - (Micah): Wow. I think that's the perfect ending to this episode. I couldn't have said it better myself.

0:13:32 - (Alane): Alane, thanks for listening to this episode of Automate your agency. We hope you're inspired to take your business to the next level. We have free content and tools for automating your business at our website, workdayninja.com.

0:13:44 - (Micah): And join us next week as we dive into more ways to automate and scale your business.

0:13:49 - (Alane): Bye for now.