A client hired someone who seemed perfect.
Great credentials. Impressive experience.
Confident in interviews. Strong references.
Three months later, they weren’t working out.
The work quality was mediocre.
They struggled with ambiguity.
They didn’t fit the culture.
The CEO was frustrated: “How did we miss this?”
Here’s what happened: they hired for credentials and interview skills, not for actual performance.
The cost: three months of poor output, time managing them out, 2-3 months to rehire.
Nearly six months lost… plus the opportunity cost of what the right person could have accomplished.
Today, I’m going to show you the 5 hiring mistakes that create this pattern, and the framework for hiring A-players who actually perform.
Let’s dive in.
Mistake #1: Relying on interviews to predict performance.
Interviews test one skill: how well someone interviews.
They don’t test how someone thinks through problems.
How they handle failure.
How they work under pressure.
Whether they fit your culture.
Yet most companies make hiring decisions almost entirely on interview performance.
The person who presents confidently might struggle with execution.
The person with great stories might not handle ambiguity well.
The person who says the right things might not do them.
What to do instead:
Give candidates real work before you hire them.
Create a paid project or work sample that mimics what they’d actually do.
Need a strategist?
Give them a client scenario and ask for their approach.
Need an operations person?
Have them map a process and identify bottlenecks.
Need a salesperson?
Have them research your market and pitch a strategy.
This reveals how they actually think, work, and deliver (not how they answer hypothetical questions).
Mistake #2: Hiring for credentials instead of fit.
Someone has an impressive resume.
They worked at a big company.
They have the right degrees.
They check all the boxes on paper.
So you hire them.
Then you realize: they’re used to structured environments with clear processes.
Your company operates with ambiguity and requires scrappiness.
Or they’re used to leading big teams.
Your company needs someone who executes hands-on.
Or they’re used to slow, consensus-driven decisions.
Your company moves fast and requires autonomy.
Credentials don’t predict culture fit.
And culture fit determines whether someone thrives or struggles.
What to do instead:
Define what success looks like in your specific environment.
Do you need:
Someone who thrives in ambiguity or prefers structure?
Someone who leads or executes?
Someone autonomous or collaborative?
Then assess whether candidates have operated successfully in similar environments (not just whether they have impressive credentials).
Mistake #3: Not testing how they handle failure.
Everyone has rehearsed success stories.
“Tell me about your biggest accomplishment.”
They’ve practiced that answer a hundred times.
But how someone handles failure reveals character, judgment, and learning ability.
Do they own mistakes?
Do they learn from them?
Do they deflect blame?
Most companies don’t ask about failure.
So they miss critical signals.
What to do instead:
Ask: “Tell me about a significant mistake you made. What happened? What did you learn? What would you do differently?”
Great performers own their failures and extract lessons.
Weak performers minimize, deflect, or blame others.
This question reveals more about someone’s judgment than any success story.
Mistake #4: Rushing the process because you need someone fast.
Your team is overwhelmed.
You need help now.
So you compress the hiring process.
Fewer interviews.
Less rigorous assessment.
Faster decision.
Then you hire someone who doesn’t work out, and the problem compounds.
Now you’re managing poor performance while still being overwhelmed.
Then you’re rehiring while managing someone out.
What you thought would save time actually costs 6+ months.
What to do instead:
Hire slower to avoid expensive mistakes.
Add work samples.
Do more reference checks.
Take time to assess fit properly.
Yes, your team stays stretched a bit longer.
But that’s better than six months of managing poor performance and rehiring.
Fast hiring creates slow results.
Rigorous hiring creates lasting performance.
Mistake #5: Not assessing culture fit properly.
Most companies ask surface-level questions:
“Do you work well in ambiguity?”
“Are you a team player?”
“Do you handle feedback well?”
Candidates know the “right” answers.
So these questions reveal nothing.
What you need: actual examples of behavior in situations similar to what they’ll face in your company.
What to do instead:
Use scenario-based questions:
Don’t ask “Do you work well in ambiguity?”
Ask “Walk me through a time you had to make a major decision without complete information. What was your process?”
Don’t ask “Are you a team player?”
Ask “Tell me about a time you disagreed with your team. How did you handle it?”
Don’t ask “Do you handle feedback well?”
Ask “Tell me about the most difficult feedback you’ve received. How did you respond?”
Scenarios reveal real behavior. Direct questions just test whether someone knows what you want to hear.
The framework: Hiring A-players who perform.
Step 1: Define success in your specific context.
What does great performance look like in this role in your company?
What environment will they work in?
What challenges will they face?
Be specific. Don’t just copy a generic job description.
Step 2: Test real work.
Create work samples or paid projects that
reveal how they think and deliver.
Don’t rely on interviews alone.
Test actual performance.
Step 3: Assess for fit, not just credentials.
Have they succeeded in environments similar to yours?
Do they thrive in the conditions they’ll face?
Credentials matter.
Fit determines whether they’ll succeed.
Step 4: Probe failure and judgment.
Ask about mistakes, difficult decisions,
and how they’ve handled setbacks.
Great performers own failures and learn.
Weak performers deflect.
Step 5: Use scenarios to assess culture.
Don’t ask if they have qualities.
Ask for examples of behavior in similar situations.
Past behavior predicts future performance
better than any interview answer.
Here’s the lesson: hiring mistakes are expensive (not just in salary, but in time, opportunity cost, and team morale).
Most companies hire for credentials and interview skills.
Then they’re surprised when performance doesn’t match.
The companies that build great teams hire differently.
They test real work.
They assess fit rigorously.
They probe judgment and failure.
They make hiring harder upfront to avoid expensive mistakes later.
That’s how you hire A-players who actually perform.
Whenever you’re ready, here are three ways we can help…
1. Strategy & Growth Blueprint: Market-grounded insights + an annual plan + a 90-day execution board your team owns.
2. Operations & Tech Reset: We map bottlenecks, design future-state processes, and build a phased tech roadmap ready to launch.
3. Manager+ Accelerator: We build core skills in delegation, feedback, goal-setting, and shape leaders who drive execution.
