Child Care Rockstar Radio: The Hiring Success Formula with Ashley Ryan

The Hiring Success Formula with Ashley Ryan

May 25, 2023

Ashley Ryan is currently the Chief Operating Officer at Grow Your Center. She shares her super successful hiring formula based on extensive research and her personal experience. She and Kris talk about attracting great candidates, red flags to look for even before hiring someone, how to stand out and show your personality, and great tips for onboarding in an organized and methodical fashion. Ashley and Kris also emphasize the importance of calculating turnover rates and treating hiring as a sales and marketing process aligned with your brand. Lastly, the two explore the value of incorporating test tasks to provide a realistic preview of candidates’ capabilities.

Key Takeaways:

[7:18] How did Ashley make her way from starting her own web agency and working with other female entrepreneurs to Grow Your Center?

[11:18] Fun fact — Ashley is a motorcycle mama! She thinks Kris should get a bike too.

[13:36] The importance of knowing your company values and providing growth.

[15:04] Benefits can be more than just time off.

[16:56] Growth opportunities mean different things for different people.

[18:22] Having a good manager, good reviews, and competitive salaries are all crucial to succeed in hiring.

[20:57] Know how to calculate your turnover.

[21:44] Hiring is essentially sales and marketing. Whatever your brand is, be intentional and think through each piece in advance.

[27:52] What tools are best to stay organized and to keep following up?

[31:59] Ashley talks about her hiring rating system. A few of the measurements they discuss are:

The ability to problem-solve.
Reliability
Motivation and the candidate being productive
Personability and having a superpower
Is the person coachable? Are they inquisitive?

[38:30] The importance of a test task to show what it will really be like working with them.

[40:29] When hiring, listen to your gut. Save yourself pain and payroll by not hiring the wrong person.

[46:09] Any tips for onboarding?

[49:52] How Grow Your Center has been revamped and what Ashley is excited about for the future.

Quotes:

“Oftentimes, when we’re leading something, it’s like it’s those costly mistakes that kind of show us the way.” — Ashley [7:47]
“People don’t leave a job, they leave a manager.” — Kris [18:50]
“Whatever your brand is, be intentional and think through each piece in advance.” — Kris [25:02]
“Another key tip to having a really solid hiring process is following up a lot.” — Ashley [28:42]
“Fortune is really in the follow-up.” — Ashley [29:32]
“Your hire should have some kind of superpower.” — Ashley [34:14]
“A big red flag with hiring with whoever is the fact that you’re giving too many chances.” — Ashley [35:33]
“If I could only do one thing to someone, and I had to eliminate everything, all I would do is some kind of test task.” — Ashley [38:00]
“If it’s definitely a no and your gut is firing, don’t hire that person.” — Kris [48:32]