Will Humphreys explains how to hire strong people by screening for cultural fit before technical skills. Start with a job ad that clearly states your purpose and values, then ask early interview questions like "What attracted you to the ad?" to find candidates who actually align with your mission. A rewritten Indeed ad for a clinic in Ketchikan, Alaska drew far more qualified responses.
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What I would love to talk about is like some strategies for the hiring process to not just not so much about like finding like someone who's qualified, like skill level, but how to talk to them about the purpose and the team culture and how to use, how to talk about that. Because at least what I want to focus on now in general, which, which I get the sense like it's important for all successful businesses is to really develop that culture. And I want to be able to hire this person from the start with that in mind and having them buying into that culture from the beginning.
Love it. So you are right on track. So quick acknowledgement. Thank you for doing the thing that is usually the first thing I coach people on in terms of a screen. Because we're looking for alignment in two ways, right? We're looking for cultural alignment and we're looking for skill set. So we worry a lot more about mindset over skill set. Right. Cultural alignment over what they can do. But when it comes to attracting the right people, you're right on track with how you do it. It's all about purpose, values and vision. And I would even take a step back, I'll go into the discussion on how to bring it up. But the first place is actually in the app. It was two months ago, I met with a company out of Alaska and they normally it was out of Ketchikan, Alaska, which is like, you have to get a plane, go in there. They had a gorgeous culture, a wonderful offering, and they just didn't know how to message it. So I spent time with them. I actually just took the ad from him with his permission and restructured it completely. And he went from having four responses in a month from his indeed ad to over 40. But it ultimately begins in the ad. What we say at the beginning is like, you know, there's a hook at the very beginning. And it's best to begin with the question, are you looking for a long term fit? Are you looking for a place where you can work, share your gift with the world and be yourself like whatever verbiage is accurate for you, then good news, we're hiring over at Druid Hills Physical Therapy. Here we stand for. And then you mentioned the purpose we stand for. And we value the following attributes. If this aligns for you, we'd love to talk to you because we're going to vision. And then you put the vision in. All the power is there. It's just a matter of harnessing it and communicating it. So it starts there. That's where the discussion truly begins. And really that's the segue. When you do the interview, the first question I always ask as an employer is, what attracted you to the app?
The reason that's so vital is because immediately the value aligned people will jump out like they will the culturally aligned value aligned people. Be like, man. When you said that you stood for freedom from pain and suffering or whatever your company purpose is, like, that is why I became a pt. It was like, oh, I'm not alone. There's other people like me. And those people, ultimately, anyone who did that ultimately became a team member. For the next 10 years, they were full.
Because now it makes so much sense too to like put it into the job ad and then just directly ask them like, what attracted you to it. And these are my values. What's important to you like that that is to me is going to find the people who align with your values and want to be a part of the cult.
