Don't Lower the Bar: What to Do When Hiring Feels Impossible

In this episode of the Culture Focused Practice Podcast, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper breaks down what happens when hiring gets hard and you start questioning your standards. You know that moment — you're tired, you're desperate, and suddenly "Can they do the job?" starts to feel like an acceptable question... even though it's the wrong one.

Tara dives into three major areas in this one:

• The real (and painful) costs of lowering your hiring bar — think culture dilution, burnout, and endless training fatigue
• How to keep your standards high without getting stuck in analysis paralysis
• And how to survive the dreaded “hiring desert” — those times when nobody seems like a fit and you're wondering if the right person even exists

She shares practical strategies like using structured rubrics, revisiting your onboarding processes, and building out a talent pool to stay proactive (even when the inbox is dry). This one is for the folks in the hiring trenches — the tired, the cautious, the quietly desperate.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
01:34 The Cost of Lowering the Hiring Bar
06:24 How to Maintain High Standards in Hiring
11:00 Strategies for Navigating Hiring Deserts
19:09 Final Thoughts and Membership Invitation

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