Freelancer to Agency: #10 How to Hire the Right People for Your Agency

Hi there! 👋 

Welcome to the next edition of the Freelancer to Agency series. In last week’s newsletter, we spoke about the type of people you need to hire first when you start your agency. 

Today, we’ll talk about how to go about hiring them.

Hiring isn’t easy. It’s a skill that every agency owner needs to learn, and that takes time!

So here are some tips that will help you hire your first employees and freelancers!

Let’s go!

You can’t just hire “anyone”

You need people to help you run your agency but you need the right people to grow your agency to make the kind of money you want to be making. 

The right people will make your life as an agency owner easier by taking work off your plate and allowing you to focus on building the business. 

To make that happen, you need to hire people whose career goals are aligned with the roles they will take at your company. This will allow you to help them build their careers as they help you build your agency. 

Ideally, you also want to hire people who are excited about your company’s mission. For example, if your agency’s target clients are businesses in the cannabis industry, you ideally want to hire people who want to see that industry flourish and are excited to contribute to its success. 🍃

You also need to make sure the people you hire are driven and hardworking. That’s generally quite difficult to screen for during interviews and will likely only be seen once you have started working with them (ideally during a trial period). 

The people you hire should also fit into your company culture. Now, that doesn’t mean you should only hire Gen-Zs if you’re 25, as you want to be around people like you. If anything, you probably want a few “proper adults” at the company. But everyone who joins the team should fit into your agency’s culture to make sure they have a good time working with you and will “play well with others.”

I feel like this should go without saying, but you (obviously) need to hire people with the right experience. Of course, you can give someone young and driven a chance if they show passion for the work they would do for you, but training people up takes time, and if you want to grow fast(er), you are better off hiring the most experienced people you can afford. 

How to find the right people 

Now, let’s talk about how to find the right talent for your agency. 

Where to look 🔎

You can take different approaches to finding great people for your team. Here are three I have used in the past. 

Recommendations, for example, are a great place to start but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t screen the candidate in the same way you would someone who applies through the careers section of your website. 

Niche job platforms are another avenue for finding talented people who want to use their marketing skills to work in the industry you plan to serve with your agency. 

I have used LinkedIn a lot to find people, and it has worked quite well. You do get a ton of garbage applications from people who clearly didn’t read the job spec, but you can always find top-tier talent. 

To be honest, there are a ton of places where you can find people. So this list is, by all means, not exhaustive. 

Advertise the role(s) in detail

Make sure you explain the role(s) you are looking to fill in detail in your job advert(s) to increase the chances of getting the right applicants to apply. 

A vague job description will lead to a bunch of random applications from people who won’t be suitable for the role. And that’s a waste of everyone's time. 

So, make sure the job descriptions detail exactly what experience the applicant requires and what would be expected from them if they were to secure the job. 

Have a probationary period

To make sure you don’t end up hiring someone who won’t perform or fit into the team, start your new hires off on a trial period.

Obviously, pay them during the trial period!  

Everything else would just be an asshole move.  

During this period, you can closely evaluate your new hires, looking at their strengths and weaknesses to help you decide whether they are a good fit for your agency. 

And this goes both ways. Your new hires can find out whether they like working for you or not.  

Hire slow and fire fast

In all honesty, I still struggle with this. 

But to run and grow a business, you will need to learn to hire slow and fire fast. 

This means taking your time when hiring new people to join your team and being quick to let go of anyone who’s not a good fit. 

Easier said that done, but it needs to be done. 

Happy hiring! 

Whoever you choose to add to your team could make or break your agency, so take your time with hiring to get it right. 

The reality is that you will likely make a few great hires, a few not-so-great hires, a few hires you regret, and a few hires where you ask yourself, “Why hasn’t this person come into my life sooner?”.

As I said in the beginning, hiring is a skill that you need to learn and develop over time. So don’t be hard on yourself when a hire doesn’t work out. 

That’s a wrap for today. 

Talk to you next week!

Alex

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