5 Traits to Look for When Hiring Your First Employee

Posted on September 29, 2020 Michael Hughes

Hiring is like dating. You’re throwing your line out there, hoping to get some bites. BUT you don’t want just any bites, you want the perfect match. You want someone who’s going to tick all of the boxes. Someone who’s smart…like you. Caring…like you. Friendly…like you. Loves dogs…like you. And wants to have a career in fitness just like you. 

Sooo basically you want to date yourself…? WELL YOU CAN’T! Don’t get us wrong, we’re all about self-love, but you can’t be in a partnership with yourself. Like they say, ‘There’s no “I” in team (and don’t go telling me “well there’s a ME” in team because that’s beside the point). The reality of dating (and hiring) is that you’re never going to find someone who is exactly like you, so start taking the modern dating approach to hiring. Swipe right when you find someone who matches up with most of what you’re looking for, the important stuff. 

For us, the following five traits fall under the category of “important stuff”. If you’re more of an acronym person, just remember HHHPP and if you’re a chemistry buff, just remember 3H2P. If you’re neither of those, just memorize them. Any coach we hire must have all of the following traits:

1. Humble 
2. Hungry 
3. Heart
4. People Smart
5. Passionate

So why are these traits most important to us? Because these are the things that you can’t teach someone. They either have these traits or they don’t. You can teach someone science, how to handle certain situations, how to communicate better. But you can’t teach or force someone to have more drive or care more or be more passionate about what they’re doing. Those things just come naturally. 

It’s up to you to decide what values and characteristics you want your coaches to have. The biggest takeaway from this is that you should be looking and hiring for the intangibles, the things that you can’t see on a resume because you can teach them the knowledge, but you can’t teach character. 

To hear more tips and considerations when hiring your first employee, check out this video.