The Most Common Hiring Mistakes Women Entrepreneurs Make and How to Avoid Them

When you consider hiring someone for your team, it’s not actually about simply getting help with something. 

It’s about getting the right people in the right roles so your team structure supports you, your profitability stays high and you can operate fully in your zone of genius.

But, we all know that’s easier said than done. 

That’s why I’m sharing the most common hiring mistakes I see women entrepreneurs make and what you can do to make sure you build a strong team of people who move your business forward. 

TL;DR? Listen to the podcast episode instead!

There are typically two reasons why we end up needing to hire:

1. We hire when we have reached capacity in a certain area

2. Or there is an area that we want to expand that is outside of our scope

This is why people outsource their advisory to me, because you need a different set of eyes, a different expertise to help you fill a gap.

But, so often, because of these reasons, we end up hiring the wrong person or someone who isn’t the best fit for the role. 

The Most Common Hiring Mistakes You Could Be Making

1. You’re Already Over Capacity

   
   

   We let ourselves get to the point of, “My gosh, this is too much, I can't take it anymore.”

   
   

   You want somebody to just take it. Somebody to just do all this for you. 

   The problem with this is when we're in that heightened overwhelmed state, what ends up happening is we hire too fast.

   
   

   And then it becomes an avalanche into other things like: 

   
   

   • We start handing people super messy tasks

   • Expectations aren't being met

   • There's resentment and frustration

   
   

   You hire a team, but still end up asking: Why does it feel like I'm not getting any sort of relief? 

   
   

   If we hire from a place of overwhelm and stress, we're generally not in the right headspace to get organized in order to bring that person on in the right capacity with the right direction and with the right clarity. 

   
   

   It's so common to wait for things to get really bad or for something really bad to happen in our business. We just keep telling ourselves that it’s a part of business and that it’s fine, when in reality, you’re making the unwanted (and unnecessary stress) worse.

   
   

2. You Set Unclear Expectations

   
   

   You hire somebody, you bring them on and they are just not performing in the way that you want them to. They are not doing what you thought would happen when you brought them on. 

   
   

   And so you may feel resentful, frustrated. 

   
   

   You probably find yourself micromanaging them because they’re not doing it right, so you feel like you have to fix it. 

   
   

   Either you haven't given them clear instructions or the person you hired doesn't care. 

   
   

   Maybe in the interview process, they sold you on their ability and skills to do the job and you believe that. But, what you didn't do is have a conversation to tell them exactly what your expectations are. You didn't ask the right questions to see what your expectations should be based upon their expertise.

   
   

3. You Set Unclear Expectations

   
   

   Just like anything else that we do in the business, there needs to be a process. 

   
   

   There needs to be a procedure that we follow with steps of “First we do this, then we do this, then we do this.” 

   If we have an unclear hiring process, whether it's hiring because of overwhelm or you’ve never developed one, can leave gaps in hiring the right person.

How to Hire The Best Fit

1. Don't Wait to Find Help

   
   

   One of the things that my clients repeat time and time again is: “I wish I would have hired you sooner.”

   
   

   Don't let yourself get to the point where you are so past capacity. Where your head is spinning to hire. 

   
   

   When you are doing your planning and looking ahead at where you want to go, ask yourself: 

   
   

   Who do I need to reach these goals? 

   
   

   My clients need me to help reach their goals because they need a partner in that strategic planning. They need a partner to be able to identify blind spots. They need somebody that can help get them there faster.

   
   

   So don't let yourself hire from a place of overwhelm. Try to hire from a place of being proactive and preventative by looking at what's coming.

   
   

2. Don't Wait to Find Help

   If you’re having heightened emotions when hiring, you need to look at you first. 

   
   

   How are you contributing?

   
   

   If your expectation is to hire a person that is an “expert” at a craft for a role you need to fill and you think they're gonna solve the problem for you, you’re going to be disappointed.

   
   

   This is a big mistake I’ve made in a couple of hires myself. So, what needs to happen is collaborative conversation between you and this hire about the expectations, with deeper, more specific questions, like: 

   
   

   When should I expect to see a return on my investment? 

   When should I expect to see a change in this? 

   When should I expect to see growth in this area based on hiring this person?

   
   

3. Better Communication

   
   

   We generally are people pleasers.

   
   

   We don't wanna rock the boat. We don't want any sort of confrontation. 

   
   

   This is one of the reasons why we micromanage, right? We think. “It'll only take me two minutes, so I’ll do it myself.”

   
   

   But, that’s the entire reason you hired them in the first place!

   
   

   We have to learn how to ask for exactly what we need. 

   
   

   We have to be willing to have uncomfortable and hard conversations in order to get the results that we want, period. If we are avoiding conversations, whether that's in your personal life or your business, you will never get where you wanna go.

   
   

   We need to learn how to use language people will be receptive to. We need to learn how to talk to our teams in a way that they are equal partners, not talking down to them. 

   
   

   So how can you improve your communication skills? 

   
   

   Find ways you can more clearly articulate what you need, want, the problems that you're seeing and what changes you want. 

   
   

   Bridge the gaps of understanding by asking them questions to make sure you know what they need as well. 

   
   

4. Refine Your Hiring Process

   If you don't have a more refined process that is reflective of the business values, needs, and wants, you're going to find yourself hiring people that are likely a mismatch.

   
   

   Here’s how to fix that:
   

   • Identify the Gaps: Keep a running list of where you feel stretched or avoidant—those are your gaps. Every business needs someone at the top with you because you can’t see everything alone.

     
     

   • Hire for Character First: Skills can be taught. Character can’t. Ask questions that reveal who they are, not just what they’ve done: Are the characteristics of the type of people that we need on our team? Are they ambitious? Do they take initiative? Are they go-getters? Are they open communicators? What is really important to you?

     
     

   • Build a Clear Operating Structure: It is so hard for team members to function and operate well and help you reach your goals when your business is messy. Document SOPs, KPIs, and use tools like Asana to let you know who’s working on what and when and who the bottleneck for projects is.

     
     

   • Make Job Postings Better: Oftentimes I look at a job posting and it's all about the job itself.And that's great and that's what makes sense, but we're forgetting a key part: We want to hire people who are brought into our vision and who believe in what we're doing.

     
     

     As somebody who has a small but mighty team, I feel that everybody that works with me and for me is also bought into my vision. They know that they are helping me to create impact in the world with my work. And to me, that feels so, so important.

     
     

   • Create a Filtering Process That Saves Time: Watch who follows instructions and use video submissions to narrow the field. Then, have a clear process for what happens next with your own time and your own capacity when we're hiring.

     
     

     Because, all these interviews are going to have to go on your calendar. So what I have my clients do is  ask any applicants they're interested in to submit a video that gives us another layer of filtration, with the goal being to interview two to three people, instead of 20 or 30.

Over the last 14 years, I’ve hired and fired, made plenty of mistakes, and supported my clients through building, refining, and streamlining their teams.

If you’ve been avoiding seeking the help you need to see things from a different perspective in your business, apply for a Private Partnership with me. If it’s a good fit, we’ll hop on a no-pressure call to just talk about what you’d love to see differently – in life and business. 

For more resources on all things business, motherhood and the in-between moments, head over to the blog to read more!