I once hired a guy who looked perfect on paper. Certifications, references, and confidence in the interview. Ninety days in, he'd poisoned the culture, missed every deadline, and I spent more time managing him than the entire rest of the team combined. The résumé lied. I just didn't know what questions to ask.
Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:
Hiring for Character
3 Tips How To Spot Red Flags Early
Hey there, team builders —
The skill gap is almost always fixable. You can train competence. You cannot train integrity, ownership, or coachability. When you hire someone who lacks those three things, you don't just have a bad employee — you have an active drain on everyone around them.
WHY You're Hiring Wrong:
You're interviewing the résumé, not the person. A polished CV tells you what someone has done. It tells you nothing about how they handled failure, conflict, or pressure.
Culture fit isn't a soft metric — it's a survival metric. One wrong hire at the wrong level can undo months of team momentum. The cost isn't just the salary. It's the damage.
You're too desperate to be discerning. When you need someone yesterday, you lower your standards today. Urgency is the enemy of good judgment in hiring.
HOW to Hire for Character:
The Failure Question: Ask every candidate: "Tell me about something you failed at and what you did next." You're not listening for the failure — you're listening for ownership. If they blame everyone else, you have your answer.
The Reference Switchback: Don't just call the references they gave you. Ask each reference: "Who else worked closely with this person that I should talk to?" That second-degree conversation is where the truth lives.
The Trial Before the Commitment: Before a full hire, run a paid 2-week project. Real work, real pressure, real deadline. How they show up in that window is exactly how they'll show up at month six.
“Hire slow. Fire fast. Protect the people who showed up for you.”
3 Tips Of The Week
How To Read People Better
Watch How They Treat the Waiter: Take a candidate to coffee. The way they treat service staff tells you everything about how they treat people they don't need to impress.
The Pause Practice: In your next hard conversation, pause three seconds before responding. You'll hear more, react less, and make better calls.
Read One Chapter of a Biography: Pick someone who built something real. Their decisions under pressure will sharpen yours.
Are you about to make a hire you're not sure about? Schedule your FREE Team Architecture Call and let's make sure you're building with the right people.
Hire slow. Build right.
Jason