They say experience is the best teacher, but only fools learn from experience.
With this saying in mind, I feel confident in telling you that I have definitely been a fool more times than not.
I have had to hire a fair bit in my consulting, as an employee, and for my own white label agency.
I am not too proud to say that I’ve made a lot of mistakes.
My first hire turned out to be a great ad manager with a lot of experience, but he left his time tracking software going overnight and stole thousands before we noticed.
Not exactly a win.
In fact, my last hire lasted all of a week before I decided to fire him. I had worked with him before and knew he struggled with communication and deadlines, but let my emotions get the better of me.
Hopefully this proves that even those who know all the right things don’t always do all the right things.
You have my personal permission to mess up when you, as an expert, totally shouldn’t be messing up. (Not that you needed it, you rebel, you)
All silliness aside, the goal of this issue of the Agency Overhaul Newsletter is to help you learn from the mistakes I’ve made and the mistakes I’ve seen in regards to hiring great help, as well as to share what can be done right from the successes I’ve experienced and the great ideas I’ve seen others implement with great success.
The complaint I hear most often lately is that it’s hard to find good help. I then see what’s being done to find said help and it’s really no wonder.
So I’m going to structure this issue as a list of mistakes with a description of what’s wrong first, then my recommended approach.
Without further ado, let’s get to the first mistake:
- Job Descriptions
There are actually so many mistakes made with this one that I’m going to give a list-within-a-list to break down the common mistakes and recommended solutions.a. Copy-pasting job descriptions
Most companies, if they don’t know what they should ask for, copy-paste a job description. It’s sound logic, really. “Surely other marketing agencies know how to write a good job description, right?”
Well the problem is that a lot of agencies (and businesses in general) are doing this. So there are copies of copies of copies floating around and you end up asking for 5+ years of experience and a bachelor’s degree for an entry level position.
I’ve seen agencies trying to hire Google Ads managers, but requiring expert wordpress development skills, SEO skills, and Facebook Ads skills.
The problem with this is that you either end up with very few (or no) candidates because there aren’t a lot of job hunters that fit the requirements, or you end up with a bunch of bad candidates that just spam applications to every agency with a job listing and don’t pay attention to the requirements.
If you’ve copy-pasted a job description, I’d recommend that you ask a friend or colleague that has experience with the role to review it and suggest changes. An existing employee in a similar role would be ideal if you have access to one.
b. Writing the description in the wrong order
There are some agencies that start job descriptions with information about their agency. That’s not bad per se, but it does get in the way of potential applicants as they try to identify if they’re a good fit for your role.See, you’re thinking that an applicant will be reading through your job description top to bottom, learning about your agency, getting excited about your culture and the opportunities you can provide for them, and reading the requirements to make sure they’re a good fit.
What’s really happening is that they want a job, so they scroll past all of the stuff that doesn’t matter yet so they can read what does matter. They’re looking for the salary first, then the requirements, then the actual description and responsibilities. Sometimes, if they’ve had a bad experience with a previous agency, they’re looking at the description of your culture and taking everything with a grain of salt.
If you want to maximize applications from qualified and quality candidates, think about how they’ll be reading it and what they want to see. It’s like a sales page for your available role, after all. Understand the person you’re writing it for and sequence the information based on what they want.
Write the first section to entice relevant candidates to read further. This should be a job title that leaves nothing to the imagination. Don’t get clever with names. If you want a content marketing specialist, call the role “content marketing specialist”. Then list the salary range. These are the first two things candidates want to see and it will determine whether someone qualified will even look at the description. They’re your sales page’s headline.
At the top, share the rest of the perks and benefits of the role. All compensation details, benefits, perks, vacation time, etc should be listed here. Get them wanting to be a good fit right off the bat.
The next section should allow candidates to self-identify whether they’re qualified or not. It should list out the requirements for the job, starting with the most important requirements and finishing with the “nice to haves” (which should be clearly labeled as such).
After listing the requirements, only the fully or mostly-qualified candidates should still be reading. Some will just apply at this point, others will want more info. This is where you give them a description of the day-to-day responsibilities of the role. Just paint it in broad strokes, covering the core duties. If you’re aiming to fill an entry-level position you may need to include more info, but the more advanced the role, the more they should already be familiar with the work involved. Just give them enough details to verify that this is the same type of work they’re used to or their eyes will glaze over and you’ll lose them.
Then, after giving them all of the info they want to read, you can talk about your agency. The goal here is still not to brag on your agency. You should be describing your culture so they can determine whether or not they would fit in. This is also where you can describe the character and traits of the people you like to work with. If you lead with character traits, you risk them skipping over it to find the salary and the requirements. Leaving it for the end increases the chances of more candidates (and more qualified candidates) applying.
You have to remember that if you’re having trouble finding good help, nobody is applying to your agency because they want to work with you specifically. They’re applying because they need a job and they have skills that meet your requirements. Don’t try to attract them with how great your agency is, attract them with what you can do for them and then retain them with how great your agency is.c. Asking for too much
This is possibly the most common job description mistake I see. As mentioned earlier, people are looking for an entry-level Google Ads manager and asking for 5+ years of experience, a bachelor’s degree in marketing, and a bunch of irrelevant skills.While years of experience matter, I’ve seen an ad manager with 1 year of experience perform head and shoulders above a 10-year ad veteran. Not all experience is equal. A B2C direct marketer with 5 years of experience in an agency would be starting from scratch on an in-house team at a B2B tech company. Asking for the right experience will go much further toward helping you hire great help and knowing how much experience is actually required for the role, vs how much you’d like, is also important.
One of the last agencies I consulted with wanted to build a solid structure around their budding PPC service (a common need for web design and SEO agencies). They wanted a paid search director with enough experience to run the service and guide them with no hand holding. They were asking for 7+ years of experience, but not getting results.
I changed the job title and cut back on the requirements a lot. I had them ask for 3-5 years of experience and, with all of these changes, they pushed the job listing live again and had several interviews with great candidates in the first week. They ended up hiring one with 14 years of experience that hadn’t applied before the application was updated. Just because you’re asking for less doesn’t mean you won’t find more.
Another common problem is asking one person to do the jobs of multiple people, or asking for tasks that require people of very different behavioral styles. An example of both being done at the same time is when agencies ask employees to be both the specialist and the client-facing account manager at the same time.
I’ve done both of these roles and am frankly quite good at both. However, they require very different skill sets and if you want someone to stay with you for years in a role like this, you can expect one or both tasks to suffer.
Being a specialist (with ad management, in particular) requires a person that is really good at one thing, detail-oriented, tactical, analytical, process-driven, and patient.
Being an account manager (client-facing) requires a person to be more of a generalist, outgoing, quick to adapt, strategic, empathetic, and good with communication.
If you ask for both in one person, you’ll have trouble finding candidates that can perform both roles well and will either see performance or communication suffer over time. You’ll also burn out your employees as they try to be who they’re wired to be while also trying to do well with tasks that are contrary to their natural gifts.
It may seem like a brilliant decision because of how cost effective it is for you and the employees are willingly signing up to do it, but it’s a quick path to higher turnover and replacing employees is significantly harder. Asking for too much is bad enough, but asking for people to do two very different jobs is a recipe for disaster.
Consider the type of person it would take to do the role in question well and make sure the responsibilities and requirements are aligned with that type of person.
And also make sure the job description is written for that type of person. If you’re looking for a people-person, include more about your culture in the appropriate section. If you’re looking for a data analyst, don’t include a bunch of fluff, just get to the point.d. Not including enough info, or withholding key info
This is getting long, so I’m going to keep this one brief.If you don’t show a pay range on your job listing, don’t expect good candidates to apply. If you don’t share any information about your company or your culture, don’t expect good candidates to apply. If you don’t share the benefits to the employee, don’t describe the role’s responsibilities, or don’t list requirements, don’t expect good candidates to apply.
‘Nuff said. Let’s move on from job descriptions to the next mistakes that make hiring great help harder.2. Weak Compensation
This is super common where I come from (in the midwest of the US). Professionals that pay $100k-120k on the coasts often struggle to get $72k-$84k in the midwest. As such, it can be harder for local companies to find talent comparable to the best workers on the coasts.
However, agencies often struggle with this wherever they’re located. I’ve had a few pay me 6-figures, but I’ve seen a shockingly firm wall put up around the $60k mark and agency owners seem extremely apprehensive about paying more than that. Regardless of the position you’re hiring for, think about how your applicants are going to approach salary.
The ones that are desperate or have no experience will generally take whatever they’re given. Those who have experience, but want to move up, will be researching average salary for the role online. Those who are top talent and know it will always negotiate for more than they received at their last role (probably by 10-20% or more) or for a bit over the top of the range you’re offering if you’ve listed the price range in the job description.
This last batch, if they’ve shown themselves to be competent and experienced enough for the role, are your ideal candidates. It’s almost always worth paying them what they’re asking because these are the candidates that generally take your agency to the next level. They’re always pushing to be better, always learning, always growing, always looking for challenges to overcome. If you pay them what they’re worth and provide a path forward, you’re going to get their best and get it for a longer time.
Conversely, if you hire someone “good enough” at the lower end of your range, you’re going to get what you pay for. Yeah, you may save money, but you risk hiring someone that is only looking for a paycheck or who wants to develop their skills and move on to a better job as soon as they find a better offer. Good talent is always learning and growing and they’re always seeking better compensation.
If you say you want a “self-motivated go-getter”, but pay at the low end of the national average, expect to get someone unmotivated or with enough insecurities to keep them from striving for more.
Beyond salary, look into competitive benefits and try to offer benefits that fit your culture and the type of people you want to work for you.
If you want family-oriented people, consider unlimited paid vacation (this is becoming increasingly common and you’ll still find family-oriented people who don’t ever take vacation time because they love the work). If you want driven people that work as much as possible, consider adding a commission-based compensation plan or adjusting pay based on workload.
There are a lot of ways to creatively attract top talent that can complement or even replace higher pay. Does your ideal candidate want more pay to allow for world travels? Consider comping a few plane tickets per year and letting them keep the airline miles or offering bonuses of full-on vacation packages. Do they want it for building wealth? Consider IRA matching, 401k, or other investment options. Whatever they want, you may be able to get by with a little less in salary if you offer more in other ways.
Compensation aside, what if the issue is that you’re having trouble identifying help that is actually good vs the help that just talks a good game?3. Not “auditioning” candidates
In a world so full of information, it’s not hard to find candidates that are full of it. It makes me think of my first meeting with the Missouri Film Alliance way back in the day. I wanted to be a film score composer and had watched hours and hours of interviews with composers. I had read books, articles, and forum posts. I had watched all of the behind-the-scenes features I could find and I impressed the socks off of all the directors there with my deep understanding of composing for film. One person who knew me later asked me if he was wrong in thinking I had never finished writing a piece of music before. I had to acknowledge that I hadn’t.
Just because a candidate knows all the answers doesn’t mean they can do the work. One of the best ways around this is to have your shortlist perform a paid “audition” project.
This audition should allow the candidate to perform a key task that would prove enough competence that you would feel confident in hiring them for the rest of the role. Ad managers are often asked to audit an account. Account managers could write a response to a couple of emails that would require critical thinking or different levels of professionalism and empathy. Admins might be asked to organize a Google Drive folder into a resource library spreadsheet or something like that.
The reason you’re paying for the audition is because you’re not a tool. If people do work, they deserve to be compensated. Also, if you won’t pay them for an audition project, the better talent will go find someone that will pay them and you’ll be left with the desperate candidates.
This is, admittedly, much more common of a practice in agencies than some of the other suggested elements, but it can be game changing if you’re not already doing it.
Now onto the next mistake.4. Not leveraging referrals
I’ll keep this one super short. Start by asking your employees, friends, and colleagues if they know of anyone that would be a good fit for the role. It’s common practice to offer a monetary incentive to your employees if they refer someone to you that you end up hiring, which can increase your chances of getting referrals.
The potential downside to offering referral bonuses like this is that you may lower the quality of applicants because people just want to get the bonus or help their friends. On the other hand, you can lower hiring costs if you don’t have to post job listings and good employees often spend time with other people that would make good employees. If you have great help now, ask them if they know of anyone that would be a good fit for the role you’re trying to fill. If they don’t, you can move on to other avenues.
Which leads me to mistake number 5.5. Not creating an employee pipeline
If you want to acquire more clients, you may build a funnel and drive traffic to it. You’ll attract relevant businesses with the ads, educate them with the beginning of the funnel, qualify them with the middle of the funnel, and collect their information and/or book a call at the end of the funnel.
If you’re willing to do this to get clients, why not try it next time you need to fill a position?
In fact, if you’re acquiring clients consistently it may be a good idea to keep a funnel up and running to keep a pool of potential employees coming in. This could be good for you or for your clients that want to run hiring campaigns. The traditional approach is to run ads to a job listing and have them apply on a 3rd party platform, but the funnel/pipeline approach may work better for some companies.
If you’re hiring for a leadership role, it’s more important to put time and effort into finding the right person. Not only would a well-designed funnel make you look better than a basic job site listing (which you could use in conjunction with the funnel to cover more ground), it would allow you to share more information about the role, what you’re looking for, and how they could expect working with your agency to unfold. Bonus points for putting together some killer video for this to add a personal touch.
The funnel is well worth trying whether you’re trying to fill an important role or several roles. The more roles you need to fill, and the more often you need to hire, the more this approach makes sense.Summary
At the end of the day, most of these mistakes come down to just not knowing what to ask for, not slowing down to think about it from the candidate’s perspective, or doing things the way they’re usually done by others.Employee turnover is super costly. Hiring and training someone for a few months only to lose that person and have to start over is frustrating, expensive, and can hurt the morale of your other employees. It also hurts your company’s reputation when clients see you cycling through employees multiple times a year.
One of the most impactful ways of lowering turnover is hiring well in the first place. Hopefully these tips will help you nail that and then you just have to treat your employees well enough to keep them around.
Next week is going to focus on a topic that was nearly one of the points in today’s edition: Creating Content For Your Agency. There are a ton of benefits to creating content for your agency and a lot of ways to do it. Next week’s edition will hopefully inspire you to create content and give you ideas about how you can do it in a way that fits your agency’s capabilities and style.
If you know of someone who may benefit from this newsletter, please don’t hesitate to send them to https://kinglyconsulting.com/newsletter so they can start receiving them.
Also, you can now catch up on past issues you may have missed by visiting https://kinglyconsulting.com/archive/
All the best,
-Ryan Baker
Founder, Kingly Consulting