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Hiring isn’t just about filling positions, it’s about building a winning team that aligns with your vision, culture, and work ethic. Today we’re talking about making the best hires and then having a discussion with Bluebelt on the future of hiring and the role technology plays.

⏳️ Estimated Read Time: 5.5 minutes

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FOUNDER LESSONS W/ Ria

Hiring can 10x a business and can also kill it, if done poorly. Especially for start-ups where the early hires come with big stakes. Today, we’re talking about what Ria and I have learned throughout the years of growing teams.

Building a great team often starts with clarity. Every role needs a solid job description, not just for the people you’re hiring but also for the people they’ll be working with.

Founders often forget to write down their own job description. Founders can wear a lot of hats - all the more reason to create clarity (and boundaries) to avoid confusion, overlap, and frustration.

​Lululemon founder Chip Wilson brings potential new business partners and hires to a 90-minute Grouse Grind hike in Vancouver at 7am. It’s a litmus test for gauging their physical fitness, mental resilience, and overall compatibility with his company's culture. Observing individuals in an uncomfortable setting reveals qualities that traditional interviews might not.

I usually do something less extreme, much like Steve Jobs and take people for a walk. You learn a lot more about people in tandem motion, than you do with a face-to-face dynamic.

Most areas around the world have a probation period for new hires, use it to your advantage. Figure out what the probation policy is and don’t hesitate to cut bait if someone isn’t the right fit. You have to learn how to fire fast - it’s better for everyone involved, I promise.

If someone is crushing their numbers, but wrecking the culture, they have to go. Gary Vee talks about the overall effect on other people working with somebody they don’t like regardless of individual success. Culture over everything. No exceptions. A rising tide raises ALL ships.

Hiring gig workers, consultants, or full-time employees? You need to be crystal clear on costs. It’s not just about salary, it’s about:

If a hire takes two years to generate ROI, is that sustainable? Know your numbers and which roles need to contribute directly to the bottom line. You may want to have freelance help to keep costs flexible while growing as it avoids the burden costs above.

We always have a detailed employement agreement and an employee handbook, which covers everything such as what happens if a family member gets sick. No ambiguity. No second-guessing, or making tough decisions on the fly. Employees know what to expect and have something to refer to. It also builds culture because policies reflect a company’s values.

We didn’t understand this concept early on, but when you hire amazing people, they also usually have amazing networks that end up being exposed to your company. They also have perspectives, ideas, and abilities that the founding team might not have. Look for those extra benefits of the great people you are interviewing.

As an owner or founder you’re usually going to be the hardest-working person at your company. Nobody is going to care as much as you do about this thing you created.

Trying to find hard working people, and aligning those people with the right incentives is a key to getting them to match the intensity that you’re going to need early on.

Set Clear Deadlines
When someone commits to delivering something, have them set their own deadline, then hold them accountable. This builds a culture of ownership early on.

Stay in Your Lane
People should be accountable for the job they were hired to do. Avoid silo drift. If you hire a marketing lead, ensure they’re focused on marketing, not getting pulled into sales or product.

Always recruit fairly, but you don’t have to be afraid to hire friends and family if they are truly the best candidate. The only requirement we learned for hiring is to always cast the net to see who’s out there. If they turn out to be the best candidate and are a good fit, then go for it (with the equal professionalism you would give a stranger).

The bottom line is to hire for culture, recruit for values, and always bet on people who show up ready to run.

Reply with your favourite and most effective interview question and I’ll put it anonymously on the next newsletter.

The Future of Hiring - with Mike Lewski From Bluebelt

I recently had the chance to catch up with a friend and entrepreneur, Mike Lewski. He’s an Ivey MBA as well (2023), and we originally met back in 2022 at Western when I was speaking and he told me he took a lot of inspiration from the podcast I did with Western, which I’m always grateful to hear.

Through the Morrissette Entrepreneurship connection we were able to re-connect this year to talk about his new company, Bluebelt and the future of hiring.

Mike: We at Bluebelt know hiring is the bottleneck for your operations. Scale your workforce with us by hiring for job-fit using our AI-powered solution to fill your critical roles. No more resume reading, screening calls, or email chains - only expect top job-fit candidates delivered right to your inbox.

Industries we support:

Make your best hire today with 1-month free access with The Fountain.

The future of hiring is here. Accelerate your recruiting process with Bluebelt.

Ria and I sat down with Mike to talk about the future of hiring (and chat dreams cards, of course).

Mike started Bluebelt - the AI-powered hiring software that's tackling a major pain point in heavy industries like construction, transportation, oil & gas, and mining.

As Mike explained, the hiring process in these sectors is often incredibly inefficient, with a lot of volume at certain times of the year. Bluebelt uses AI to pre-qualify candidates, automating the top of the funnel and tedious parts of the hiring process.

Candidates interact with an AI "recruiter" named Blue, over the phone, who handles interview coordination, credential verification, and reference checks. All of this information is then presented to the hiring manager as a scored candidate profile, allowing them to focus on the final decision-making.

Automated phone screening, has been mainstream for a while, but AI taking on full interviews and reference checks seems pretty unbelievable.

Is that where hiring is going? Their biggest challenge is trust. Will employers trust AI to make hiring decisions? Ria and I agreed that we would let it narrow it down to top 3-5 candidates and make the final decision.

Nearly two-thirds of all respondents (64%) in a YouGov survey think AI and automation will speed up recruitment, with half (55%) believing it will have a positive effect in accurately finding talent—and HR decision-makers (HRDMs) are largely in agreement.

73% of Talent Acquisition professionals agree that AI will change the way organizations hire.

We also discussed which industries this can really impact.

Where this tech seems to be really useful is helping companies better manage the seasonal nature of their workforce. In industries like construction and oil & gas, there are often significant transitions on and off employment insurance as projects ramp up and down.

According to BuildForce Canada, the industry will need to recruit 309,000 new construction workers over the next decade (2021 – 2030) to meet the growing demand and to replace the 259,100 workers expected to retire, representing 22% of the current workforce.

Mike believes technology could be used to streamline these transitions, benefiting both the companies and their workers.

Coming from a construction background it really makes sense that this industry could benefit from a tech forward solution. In other positions, I’m still unsure if AI will be able to culture match, and above all avoid big biases that AI is trained on.

If you're as intrigued as I am, let me know and I'd be happy to connect you with Mike to learn more.