Hiring the Right People

Introduction

In a marketing agency, hiring is not simply about filling a seat when the team is busy. Every new hire affects client results, delivery quality, margins, and the amount of work that still comes back to the owner. A strong hiring process helps you find people who can do the work, communicate with clients, and fit the pace of agency life.

The Talent Funnel treats hiring like a marketing funnel. You attract a broad group of candidates, filter them with clear tests, train the best match, and watch whether they perform over time. This approach reduces rushed decisions and helps you build a dependable delivery team.

Concept

The Talent Funnel has three main parts: Hiring, Training, and The Repellent Job Ad. Each part helps your agency attract, test, and keep people who can perform in a client-service environment.

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Hiring

Hiring starts with defining the real job. A marketing agency should describe the accounts, tools, deadlines, and level of client contact the person will handle. Avoid vague titles such as “marketing rock star.” State whether the role involves writing Meta ad copy, building Google Ads campaigns, reporting in Looker Studio, managing HubSpot workflows, or coordinating designers and developers.

Real-World Example: Suppose an agency needs a paid media manager. Instead of asking for a “creative growth hacker,” the job post explains that the person will manage 8 to 12 client accounts, review search terms twice a week, maintain tracking in Google Tag Manager, present monthly results, and flag campaigns that fall below the agreed cost-per-lead target. This attracts candidates who understand the work and discourages people looking for a broad, undefined role.

The hiring process should test the skills that matter. Review a candidate’s work, ask for examples of campaign decisions, and use a short paid or carefully limited practical exercise. Check whether the person can explain results in plain language, not just list platforms they have used.

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Training

Once you hire someone, training turns potential into reliable performance. Agency onboarding should cover the delivery process, client promises, reporting standards, communication rules, and the tools used every day. A new account manager needs more than access to Slack and Asana. They need to know how to read a scope of work, prepare a client update, record decisions, escalate a missed deadline, and protect confidential account data.

Real-World Example: A new email marketing specialist spends the first week reviewing three completed client campaigns, learning the agency’s naming conventions in Klaviyo, checking the QA checklist, and sitting in on a client call. In the second week, they build a draft campaign that a senior team member reviews before it is scheduled. This creates a safe path from learning to independent delivery.

Training should have visible checkpoints. For example, the hire may need to complete a campaign brief correctly, explain a weekly performance report, and deliver two client-ready tasks without major rework. These tests are more useful than assuming someone is ready because they attended a meeting.

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The Repellent Job Ad

A Repellent Job Ad is designed to discourage poor-fit applicants before they enter your interview process. It explains the difficult parts of agency work instead of selling only perks. Mention shifting priorities, detailed QA, client feedback, reporting deadlines, and the need to handle several accounts without losing track of small details.

Real-World Example: A content strategist job ad may ask applicants to include three headline ideas for a fictional local dentist and to begin their email with a specified phrase. It may also state that the role includes revising work after client feedback and presenting content calendars on calls. Candidates who skip the instructions or dislike revisions filter themselves out.

This is not about tricking applicants. It is about showing the work honestly and testing care, judgment, and follow-through before you invest time in interviews.

Conclusion

The Talent Funnel gives a marketing agency a repeatable way to hire people who can deliver client work. Define the job honestly, test the skills that affect results, train through real agency tasks, and use job ads that make the hard parts clear. When the right people enter the funnel, your agency gets better delivery, stronger client relationships, and less owner dependence.