Ryan Englin on The Contractor Fight: Hiring a Winning Team

I sat down with Tom Reber on The Contractor Fight to talk about what it really takes to build a winning team in the trades.

Tom and I got into it right away. The conversation started where most of my conversations start: people do not leave jobs. They leave people. Every contractor listening to this who has an open position wants the experienced tech who already has a job somewhere else. That means someone has to quit a job to come work for you. And 91% of the time, they are not leaving for money. They are leaving because of the person they work for.

That is the foundation of the Core Fit Hiring System. Everything we build starts with three questions. Why do you do what you do? Where is the business going? And how do you behave? Those three things make up your core. A lot of people call it culture. I think culture is an overused buzzword. Core is what's in your heart. What makes you tick as a business. And we want to hire people who align to that.

Tom brought up a great point about the "what's in it for me" factor. Your people bring their time, their talent, their sweat, their blood. They deserve to know what they get out of riding on your bus. I mentioned the Growth Accelerator Program, which is a process we teach that helps employers bridge the gap between where an employee is in life and where they want to be. It is a three-year investment in the human being, not just the job title. That is how you keep people.

We spent a good chunk of time on communication. Tom told a story I have heard versions of a hundred times. A client had empty job folder holders on the wall after switching to a digital system. The crews walked in every morning, saw empty holders, and assumed there was no work. The owner was booked out 18 months. Nobody told the crews. They put a big monitor in the shop showing green days on the calendar. Problem solved. That is the kind of simple, intentional communication that stops good people from jumping ship.

I shared what I tell every contractor who asks about their first hire. The number one mistake is looking for someone who can replace you. If they were you, they would be your competition, not your employee. Stop looking for a mirror. Take one hat off. Write down how you know when someone wearing that hat is doing a good job. Go find that person. That is it.

Tom and I both agreed the entrepreneur needs to stay out of the early interview stages. He told me his team actually kicked him out of the hiring process. Good for them. Every entrepreneur walks in with rose-colored glasses. All those red flags just look like flags at a party. We let the team handle the first rounds because they are the ones who will work alongside the new hire. The owner comes in at the end for a final conversation with someone who has already been vetted.

We also talked about interviewing as a sales activity. It is not about questions. It is about behavior. Tom gave a perfect example. Instead of asking "are you respectful," ask an open-ended question like "what do you think it looks like to respect our customers?" and let them reveal who they really are. Faking a process is harder than faking an answer.

One thing I pushed hard on is that recruiting is marketing. The way you attract people, the way you promote your opportunities, that is not an HR function. You are marketing a lifestyle, a community, a place where people belong. Stop posting job ads that read like window stickers. Sell the experience of working for you the same way you sell the experience of hiring you as a contractor.

If this conversation hit home, I go deeper on all of this on Titans of the Trades. We break down these frameworks with real contractors every week. Subscribe for more conversations like this.