Have you ever looked at your hiring process and wondered if the problem is really the applicants, or if the problem is the way you are presenting the opportunity?
That question has been sitting with me lately.
I recently listened to an episode of Guy Coffey’s podcast where he interviewed Andrea Hoffer about hiring systems, attracting the right talent, and building a process that does more than fill an empty seat. The conversation was powerful because Andrea did not talk about hiring like most people talk about hiring. She did not make it sound like a simple job post, a quick interview, and a coin-flip decision.
She talked about hiring like a system.
She talked about it like marketing.
She talked about it like culture.
She talked about it like a professional process that should attract, educate, filter, nurture, and ultimately bring the right people into the organization.
And I have to be honest. It made me think hard about what we are doing at Window Ninjas.
We do have a hiring system. We conduct group interviews. We bring people in. We talk through who we are, what we do, what the position requires, and what the opportunity can become. We are not just winging it. We have put effort into creating a process that helps us identify people who could be a good fit for our call center, our sales team, our service teams, and our management structure.
But when I listened to Andrea explain her system, I realized something. Her process is like our process on steroids.
Not because we have not been trying. We have. But she articulated the recruiting process in such a thoughtful and detailed way that it opened my eyes. She talked about multiple streams of attracting talent. She talked about nurturing applicants. She talked about creating a professional experience before someone ever gets hired. She helped me see that hiring is not just about interviewing whoever shows up.
Hiring is about building a pipeline of people who understand the opportunity before they ever walk through the door.
That is where my thinking has shifted.
Hiring Is Not Just Filling Positions
For a long time, many business owners have treated hiring like a reaction to a problem.
Someone quits, so we post a job.
A department gets busy, so we post a job.
The manager is overwhelmed, so we post a job.
Then we wait, hope, interview, and pray we find someone good.
That may be common, but that is not a strategy. That is survival mode.
A real hiring system should not begin when you are desperate. A real hiring system should be running all the time. It should be part of the company’s growth engine. It should be part of the brand. It should be part of the culture.
At Window Ninjas, people sometimes ask us, “Why are you always hiring?”
That is a fair question.
The answer is simple. We are growing.
We are not always hiring because we go through people. We are always hiring because we are building something bigger, and bigger opportunities require better people.
We want to attract great managers. We want to attract great customer service representatives. We want to attract great salespeople. We want to attract great service technicians. We want to attract future leaders who may start in an entry-level role but have the drive, attitude, and discipline to become something much more.
That is the difference between filling a position and building a talent pipeline.
A position solves today’s need.
A pipeline builds tomorrow’s company.
The Right People Need To See The Opportunity
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is assuming great people will automatically understand the opportunity.
They will not.
You have to show them.
You have to tell the story. You have to explain the path. You have to help them see what the job can become if they are willing to learn, work, grow, and take advantage of what is in front of them.
Most job posts are boring. They read like a list of chores.
Answer phones.
Schedule appointments.
Clean windows.
Drive a truck.
Show up on time.
Follow directions.
Be dependable.
That may describe some of the tasks, but it does not describe the opportunity.
At Window Ninjas, a call center position is not just answering phones. It is learning sales, communication, customer service, scheduling, problem solving, and how to be the voice of a professional organization. Our call center is not a room full of people waiting for the phone to ring. It is the heartbeat of our company.
A strong customer service rep helps customers feel heard, informed, and confident. A strong sales rep knows how to educate a homeowner, handle objections, close unsold estimates, protect revenue, and build trust through a conversation. Those are valuable skills. Those are life skills. Those skills can take a person far beyond the chair they start in.
The same is true in service.
A service technician at Window Ninjas is not “just cleaning windows.” I have never liked that phrase because I know what this industry did for me. I started in window cleaning. A squeegee helped shape my life. It taught me work ethic, discipline, customer service, confidence, and entrepreneurship. It gave me a skill, then a business, then a future.
So when I look at someone joining our service team, I do not just see a technician. I see a person who could become a crew leader. I see someone who could become a service manager. I see someone who could one day open their own Window Ninjas location.
But they need to see it too.
And that is our responsibility.
We Want To Attract Exceptional, Not Average
There is a big difference between attracting applicants and attracting talent.
Applicants apply for a job.
Talent sees an opportunity.
Applicants may be looking for a paycheck.
Talent is looking for a place to grow.
Now let me be clear. Everybody needs to earn a living. Pay matters. Benefits matter. Schedule matters. Stability matters. I am not pretending people should work for hugs and high-fives. That is not reality.
But the best people usually want more than money.
They want growth. They want leadership. They want standards. They want to be part of something that has direction. They want to know that if they give their best effort, there is a path forward.
That is the kind of person we want to attract.
We are happy to train. We are happy to educate. We are happy to mentor. We are happy to teach someone how to become fantastic at their job. But we need them to bring the right attitude.
We can teach a person how to clean a window.
We can teach a person how to answer a phone professionally.
We can teach a person how to sell.
We can teach a person how to follow a system.
We can teach a person how to lead.
But we cannot install desire. We cannot force someone to care. We cannot make someone hungry if they are committed to being average.
That is why the hiring process matters so much. It should not just identify people who need a job. It should identify people who want to grow into an opportunity.
A Professional Hiring Process Should Also Be Fun
This is one of the areas I want us to improve at Window Ninjas.
Our hiring process should be professional, but it should not be stiff. It should be structured, but it should not be boring. It should be educational, but it should not feel like a college lecture nobody signed up for.
It should feel like Window Ninjas.
That means energy. That means clarity. That means standards. That means fun. That means the applicant should walk away knowing more about who we are, what we believe, and what kind of person thrives here.
When someone attends one of our group interviews, I want them to feel the culture. I want them to understand the services we provide, the customers we serve, the standards we hold, and the opportunities available. I want them to see that we are not just hiring bodies. We are looking for people who can become part of something.
And truthfully, the process should filter people out too.
That is not a bad thing.
A strong hiring process should attract the right people and repel the wrong ones. If someone does not want structure, accountability, training, standards, or customer service expectations, it is better for everyone to discover that early.
The right people should lean in.
The wrong people should self-select out.
That is not harsh. That is healthy.
The Scholarship Program: A Real Path To Ownership
One of the things I am most proud of at Window Ninjas is that we are not just talking about opportunity. We are building real pathways for it.
We have a scholarship program for employees who want to grow with us and potentially open their own Window Ninjas location. The idea is simple. For the right employee, someone who performs, grows, learns, and shows long-term commitment, we can make an annual monetary contribution toward their future franchise opportunity.
Over the course of five years, that contribution can help pay for their franchise fee.
That is not theory. It is happening.
Our new franchisee in Charlotte used this program. His franchise fee is paid. He is now in the process of opening his location, and his main startup responsibilities are securing his truck, equipment, and marketing spend.
Think about what that means.
He is getting the opportunity to open his own Window Ninjas location at a significantly lower cost than someone coming in from the outside. In simple terms, he is opening the door to business ownership with a massive head start.
Now, is that path for everyone?
No.
And I do not want to pretend it is.
Owning a business is hard. Leading people is hard. Building a location takes work, discipline, and courage. But for the right person, someone who wants to grow, who wants to lead, who wants to build something for their family, this kind of opportunity can be life-changing.
That is why we do it.
Because when good people grow, the company grows too.
That is a true win-win.
Growth Creates Openings, And That Is A Good Thing
Recently, one of our managers left to open his own market. Some companies would look at that as a loss. I look at it as proof that the system is working.
Did it create a hole?
Of course it did.
When talented people move up, there is always a gap to fill. But the beautiful part is that we were able to fill that role quickly because another person had been trained, mentored, and developed over the past few years.
That is how leadership development is supposed to work.
A healthy company should not collapse when someone grows into a bigger opportunity. A healthy company should celebrate that person, support their growth, and have the next leader ready to step forward.
That is what we want to keep building at Window Ninjas.
We want people learning.
We want people advancing.
We want service technicians becoming crew leaders.
We want crew leaders becoming managers.
We want managers becoming owners.
We want customer service reps becoming sales professionals.
We want sales professionals becoming leaders.
That kind of movement creates energy inside a company. It gives people hope. It shows the team that growth is not just something we talk about in meetings. It is something that actually happens.
The Lesson For Other Business Owners
Before you say there is no great talent out there, take a hard look at your own system.
Are you marketing your career opportunities, or are you just posting jobs?
Are you educating applicants, or are you just interviewing them?
Are you nurturing potential talent, or are you letting good people slip away because your follow-up is weak?
Are you showing people a path, or are you only showing them a task list?
Are you holding standards, or are you lowering the bar because you are desperate?
These are not easy questions. I am asking them inside my own company right now.
That is what a good podcast, a good mentor, or a good conversation should do. It should make you better. It should challenge the way you are doing things. It should make you look at your current system and ask, “How can we improve this?”
Because the truth is, the business owner is often the bottleneck.
Not always, but often.
If we want better people, we need better systems. If we want better systems, we need better leadership. If we want better leadership, we need to stop blaming the market and start building the kind of company great people want to join.
That does not mean every applicant will be great.
They will not be.
That does not mean every hire will work out.
They will not.
But when your system improves, your odds improve. When your message improves, your applicant quality improves. When your culture improves, your retention improves. When your training improves, your people improve.
And when your people improve, everything improves.
An Invitation To Future Window Ninjas
If you are reading this and you are looking for more than just a job, I want you to hear this clearly.
Window Ninjas may be a place where you can grow.
If you want to learn customer service, sales, operations, leadership, or skilled service work, we want to talk to you. If you want to be trained, challenged, coached, and developed, we want to talk to you. If you want to be part of a company that believes in standards, opportunity, and growth, we want to talk to you.
We are not promising easy.
Easy does not build much.
We are offering a path.
A path to learn. A path to improve. A path to lead. A path to build a career. And for the right person, maybe even a path to business ownership.
That is why we are always looking for great talent.
Not because we are desperate.
Because we are growing.
Because we believe there are people out there who just need the right environment, the right leadership, and the right opportunity to become exceptional.
Final Thought
Hiring is not just about finding people.
Hiring is about creating a company that the right people want to be part of.
That means your message matters. Your standards matter. Your training matters. Your leadership matters. Your culture matters. Your follow-up matters. Your opportunity matters.
At Window Ninjas, we are taking what we already do, learning from people like Andrea Hoffer, and working to make our hiring system better, sharper, more organized, and more impactful.
Because we do not just want employees.
We want builders.
We want leaders.
We want people who are ready to grow.
And if we can give those people a hand up, teach them skills, hold them to standards, and help them build a better future, then they win, our customers win, and Window Ninjas wins.
So before you say there is no great talent out there, ask yourself this:
Have you built a system that great talent would actually want to be part of?
Keep growing. Keep building. Keep Shining.
