The Invisible Enemy of Your Growth?

Average recruitment. Here's the fix:

Read time: 4 minutes

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The Opportunity Cost of Average

99% of founders live this story - yet very few escape.

Like every ambitious agency owner, Eugenio had big dreams.

Little did he know one of the biggest things holding him back was recruitment.

His hiring ‘process’ was as follows

1. Post a job

2. Speak with a few applicants

3. Hire the least-worst option.

The outcome?

Average talent.

And it worked… at first.

Clients came in the door. Revenue crept up.

But then operations became chaotic - resources stretched thin.

As a result, clients left. And so did their revenue.

Up and down. Like a yo-yo.

He couldn’t beat the cycle and earlier this year decided he’d bring on an advisor who’d been there and done it.

Yes, that happens to be me!

But before I blow smoke up my ass let me be brutally honest…

I Learned The Hard Way

Unlike Eugenio, I waited WAY too long to admit I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and was hiring average talent for years.

Trying with all my energy to get C players to become A-players.

Hiring people at the last minute when our agency operations were bursting at the seams.

It not only cost me a lot of time and energy - but also a lot of money. 

The cost opportunity of average recruitment is astronomical. Trust me.

The problem?

It’s invisible to the untrained eye because you don’t know what great looks like.

For Eugenio’s agency, we laid out a new recruitment process using my past experience. And to his credit he adopted it. Flawlessly.

• Every new position minimum 100 applicants

• Every applicant completing tasks before calls

• Everything before calls delegated to assistants

And most importantly shifting the mindset of recruitment from RE-active to PRO-active. By building up pipelines for positions months in advance.

Changing the standards from average, to good, to great.

And just like I did with Eugenio, I’ll give you that exact step-by-step process in just a second.

But first, let me tell you what happened when he beat this invisible enemy.

Because his growth has been anything but average.

From Firefighting to Future Building

5X growth in six months.

Not luck. Not a new sales tactic or hack. Not the market turning in his favor.

It was because he decided that ‘average’ wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

Moving forward every new team member he hires now raises the overall standard in the company. 

Meaning over time it gets better - and better.

And the ones who can’t keep up with the growth? 

They have to go. Ruthless, I know.

But in business, the truth is you’re only as fast as your slowest person.

As the leader your number one role is to protect this standard like your life depends on it (it really does).

Average hires drain your time, energy, and momentum, keeping you in a cycle of managing instead of leading.

They miss deadlines, need hand-holding, and settle for “good enough,” pulling your whole team down to their level.

And you as the leader are stuck managing the day-to-day, fighting fires instead of building the future.

Exceptional hires, on the other hand, take initiative, solve problems, and drive your vision forward. But finding them takes more than wishful thinking — it demands a deliberate process that attracts A-players.

So right now you have 2 choices:

1. Keep playing the same game, hiring the same way, hoping for different results. (According to Einstein himself, that’s the definition of insanity).

2. Create a hiring process that brings the best straight to your doorstep, eager to be part of your vision.

If you chose option 2, here’s your blueprint:

10X Your Volume, 10X Your Growth

Step 1. Commit to 100 Candidates Per Role
It sounds extreme, but it’s necessary. You’ll see the range of skills, attitudes, and experience. You’ll know what makes someone truly exceptional. Send out DM’s, post on your socials, run ads, ask for referrals, tap into recruiters networks. After you’ve done it once it’ll be easier to repeat.

Step 2. Task before Talk
Instead of wasting your time speaking to people who don’t cut the mustard, create a task for them to complete - specific to the job role you’re hiring for. Build an explainer video and create a step-step process so it’s the same for every candidate. This way, you can easily delegate this step to someone in your team.

Step 3. Review Ruthlessly
This is where this process becomes magical. Review the candidate’s experience and the task they’ve completed.  Because you have at least 100 people to review the top 5-10% will stand out like a sore thumb to the rest. You’re rewiring your brain in real time to know what great looks like. For the 5-10 that stand out setup an interview.

Step 4. Think, Ask, Listen
If you’re trying to hire A-Players the number one trait in my opinion is critical thinking. So instead of the standard interview questions such as “What are your top 3 strengths?” follow a line of questioning that makes the candidate think. Obviously there will be more specific questions for your role but high level here are my top 5 and why:

• What do we do at this company and who is our ideal customer? (shows the preparation they have done prior to the interview)

• How will this role make the company more money? (shows their ability to see the bigger picture and what actions really move the needle for this role)

• Give me a specific example of how you solved X problem - what was the situation before, what did you do to fix it, how long did it take and what was the result after? (shows how they solve problems)

• What is something you’re obsessively passionate about? (gives an insight into their character)

• Why shouldn’t we hire you? (shows how honest they are)

Now hire the candidate you like most but don’t push the others away. There is one crucial final step.

Step 5. Build a Talent Pipeline
Recruitment isn’t just about filling today’s role; it’s about setting up your future. Not right for now? Maybe perfect next time. Keep a list of strong contenders on a waiting list. Then when you’re next ready to hire Boom! You already have a list of A-Players ready to choose from.
 

This is when you change from RE-active to PRO-active recruitment.

It’s true - most founders will avoid this process because it’s a lot of upfront work.

They “don’t have time” - they want quick fixes.

But those are the ones who plateau and stay average.

Future Goliaths, on the other hand, commit to 100 candidates, master the art of spotting greatness, get a pulse on the market, and build their talent pipeline.

Finding true A-Players who 10X their growth.

Conquering the invisible enemy of recruitment is truly how you become a Giant.

So please please - don’t settle for average.

Think bigger. Act bigger. Attract bigger.

I’ll see you at the top.

Yours truly,

-Nigel Thomas

P.S. This weekend I lived out a childhood dream all thanks to Eugenio. He got us tickets to see the ‘El Clasico’ between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Bernabeu stadium - shame about the result but boy was it worth the wait! The atmosphere was electric!

P.P.S. If like Eugenio you’re a marketing agency owner who’s been struggling to figure out why you’re not scaling check out my 1-1 mentorship service - I’ve worked with over 20 agencies this year (and half at least doubled in size)