Episode 304: 4 Hiring Questions To Separate Good From The Great Pet Sitters

What if you knew the right questions to ask that would separate the good, from the great employees? Asking the right hiring questions when searching for employees can weed out ones who may not be the right fit for you or your business. But how do you know what questions to ask? The hiring process shouldn't be a stressful situation that ultimately leaves you empty-handed a few months down the road. You are spending your time and resources trying to find those great employees who will help you grow and scale your business. This week I am speaking from my many years of expertise and giving you the four hiring questions to ask that will separate the good from the great employees you are looking to hire. What would it mean to you and your business if you found the right employees from the start, rather than wasting time training those who aren't going to work out? If hiring the hiring process has left you frustrated or starting over multiple times, this episode will help you head in the right direction. Biggest Takeaways: 4:16 Did you ask the right questions? 6:38 What would they do in a sticky situation? 8:47 The “drink test” 9:57 What does this job mean to you? 12:20 How long can they predict their current availability 14:55 How much do they need to make a month? 16:37 Free Avatar class 9:08 Jazz HR Recommendations: Imagine easily knowing how to find and hire the right candidates. If you are looking for help writing a killer job posting or even how to attract the right candidates, I have put together a three-part training series that helps you ask the right hiring questions and get the employees you are looking for. Head over to joinjumpconsulting.com to see if this is the answer you have been looking for. Links: FREE Jump and Scale Class Jazz HR Better Marketing With Bella Bella Vasta Instagram Transcript This is episode 304 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta. And today, my gosh, we're going to continue on this train of hiring great employees because it's pretty tough, right? I think every single small business deals with this. It doesn't matter if you're in the pet sitting business or not. You could be in the housekeeping industry where I've just recently started to gain a lot of friends and followers. But these are tried and true things that we're going to be talking about today—about basically how to separate your interview questions to get from the good people to the great people. And I'm really curious if you guys have any feedback or have found anything while you're interviewing that has been really great. Now, before I get into this, I want to stress that asking the right questions is pivotal in finding someone. A lot of times people say, “I don’t want to hire,” or “I keep hiring bad people,” or “Nobody wants to work.” And my first question is: what is your responsibility in that? Did you ask the right questions? Did you think ahead of time about the exact kind of person you're looking for and then pinpoint situational questions you needed to ask them? The tricky part about this is you can’t just come out and ask a question because it’s kind of like—think about if you’re a lawyer—it’s like a leading question. People start to understand that there’s a “right” answer, and they’ll just give you lip service. When you give more thought-provoking questions that don’t necessarily have a definite yes or no answer, it makes it a little bit more abstract and gets the person talking themselves up on a pedestal—or into a hole. Questions, especially if you’re hiring employees, might sound like this: What would you do if you walked in and a dog was panting on the floor? My question to you would be, “I don’t know what the handbook says. You’re going to train me on that.” There’s a difference, too, in questions depending on whether you’re hiring an employee versus an independent contractor (IC). An IC should come to you already knowing what to do. They should have their own business, their own methods, and the knowledge. An employee, on the other hand, is someone you’re molding—training and coaching in your way. I’m a big proponent of employees. I actually think employees cost less than ICs because most people are paying ICs way too much. And the liability with ICs, if they don’t have their own independent insurance, is astronomical. Who wants to sleep with one eye open at night wondering if they’re going to have a lawsuit or a huge bill to pay? Workman’s compensation helps so much when you have employees. So, let’s get back into it: four hiring questions to separate the good from the great. First, ask “what would you do” questions—yes, even though I just said not to—but make sure they’re sticky situations with no obvious answer. For example: You’re on your way to a doctor’s appointment that you’ve waited nine weeks for. You see a loose dog in your neighborhood. What do you do? This is a moral dilemma, and I want to see how you think. Do you pick up the dog and take it with you? Do you stop and find its home? Or do you keep driving, thinking someone else will handle it? There’s no perfect answer here. What I want to know is your critical thinking and problem-solving skills—how you prioritize and what your decision-making process looks like. Now, one of the best hiring tips I ever learned came from my dad. He was a district manager for toy companies and called it the drink test. When you ask a question—start drinking. Literally. Take a sip of your coffee, your water—whatever. The point is: shut up. Interviewers often get nervous and fill the silence by talking. But you don’t want to lead the candidate anywhere. Ask the question and be quiet. You can follow up with things like, “That’s interesting, tell me more.” Or, “Why do you think that?” Use the Socratic method. If they say, “I’d put the dog in my car,” respond with, “You’d put the dog in your car?” It invites them to elaborate—and that’s when you really start learning who they are. The second question is: What does this job mean for your life? Jobs like pet sitting, dog walking, and housekeeping are lifestyles—they’re not clock-in, clock-out jobs. You have to love it. Ask them what this job means for them. Are they in transition? Are they just looking for any paycheck? Are they stable and ready to stay long-term? You want to know if they’re with you for a season, a reason, or a lifetime. The third question is: How long can they predict their current availability? You could ask, “Your availability says Monday through Friday, 10–4. Do you see that changing anytime soon?” Or, “How long can you predict that schedule will stay the same?” That helps you avoid surprises later when someone suddenly can’t work the same hours. In my own company, I used to ask candidates to commit to six months. It wasn’t legally binding—it just made them stop and think. Some would realize they couldn’t commit and bow out before I spent time and money training them. Finally, the fourth question: How much do they need to make a month? Yes, even if you already asked it on the application. Ask again. You want to know why they need that amount. What’s their motivation? What role does this job play in their financial picture? If they say they need $2,500 a month but your job only provides $1,000, that’s a red flag. It means they’ll need another job—and their availability will change. If they don’t even know how much they need to make, that’s also concerning. This ties back to knowing your avatar—your ideal hire. For example, if the position only offers $1,000 a month, your ideal candidate isn’t someone supporting an entire family. Maybe it’s a retiree, a stay-at-home parent, or someone supplementing income. You’re not just hiring one person—you’re hiring their whole household dynamic. When you understand how much they need to make, where they are in life, and how long they can commit, you’ll confidently know whether they’re the right fit. You can use these questions at different phases of your hiring process. Personally, I love JazzHR for managing all of this. They post on 15 job boards, handle onboarding, and allow you to create knockout questions. Knockout questions save you from sifting through hundreds of applications. They automatically filter out people who don’t meet your non-negotiables. You can also create phases—like customer service, communication, or work ethic—and build your questions for each stage. With the click of a button, you move applicants through your process. If you want to try it, go to jumpconsulting.net/jazzhr. Signing up through me gives you 50% off plus a job ad and knockout question templates. And if you want to learn about avatars for hiring, go to joinjumpconsulting.com for my free three-hour webinar. So let’s recap: Ask sticky “what would you do” questions. Ask what this job means for their life. Ask how long they can predict their availability. Ask how much they need to make each month—and why. These four questions will help you separate the good from the great. Next week, I’ll share seven ways to stand out from your competition. Whether you’re a pet sitter, house cleaner, or any service-based business, you’ll want to hear it—I’m going to knock your socks off. Please remember, when life gets you down, always keep jumping. So what did you think? Did you love this episode? I sure hope you did, because I put a lot of love into this for you.