Good morning, everybody.

I want to talk today about hiring — and specifically, how I think about hiring — because it’s one of those areas where small decisions compound incredibly fast, in either direction.

I’ve always felt like I was particularly good at hiring. I don’t know that I could fully explain why at first, but over time I realized it wasn’t intuition.

It was pattern recognition.

And one experience really crystallized that for me.

Years ago, when I was running a virtual assistant company, we hired 183 people in six months, with about 2% turnover. And here’s the part that usually surprises people:

• The majority of the hiring process was automated
• There were no live interviews
• And there were only four questions

That was it.

It was a video interview — asynchronous — and everyone answered the same four questions:

1. Why you?
2. Why us?
3. Tell me about a time you screwed up at work and how you handled it.
4. If we don’t hire you, why do you think that will be?

Those four answers told me almost everything I needed to know.

Not because I was looking for perfect responses — but because how people answer reveals how they think, how they take responsibility, how self-aware they are, and whether they actually understand what they’re applying for.

For example:

• “Why you?” shows confidence versus entitlement
• “Why us?” exposes whether they did any real thinking or research
• The failure question reveals accountability and growth mindset
• The last question is pure gold — self-awareness, humility, emotional intelligence

What I was really hiring for wasn’t skill.

It was signal.

Over the years, working with different companies, I’ve seen a clear pattern:

There are companies that hire for roles.

And there are companies that hire for talent.

Hiring for roles isn’t wrong — it’s just fragile.

Roles change.

Markets change.

Org charts change.

Priorities change.

Great talent, on the other hand, is durable.

Great talent adapts.

Great talent grows.

Great talent moves laterally, not just vertically.

This matters even more in a replaceable-founder style business, where the goal isn’t a rigid hierarchy — it’s a flexible, resilient organization.

When you hire for talent and values alignment, you can reconfigure roles without blowing everything up.

When you hire narrowly for a role, every change becomes painful.

And here’s the part most people miss:

Hiring is not about predicting performance.

It’s about reducing risk.

You’re looking for people who:

• Take ownership
• Can reflect on mistakes
• Communicate clearly
• Understand why they’re showing up
• Align with how you work, not just what you do

The more your hiring process surfaces those traits early, the less you’re relying on hope later.

So if you’re hiring right now — or thinking about hiring — here’s the question I’ll leave you with:

Are you hiring someone to fill a seat…

or someone who will still be valuable when the seat changes?

If this sparked something for you — or if you’re currently hiring and want a second set of eyes on your process — send me a private Carbon Voice message.

Talk me through:

• how you’re screening candidates
• where you’ve been burned before
• or what you’re unsure about this time

I’ll respond asynchronously with specific, actionable feedback — no calls, no fluff, just clarity.

👉 Start the conversation here: https://www.talktoari.com

Make it an effective day, everybody.

Ari