Speed Dating Interviews: The Costly Mistake of Rushing Through Hiring Decisions
TJ Kastning
Introduction: “Too Busy to Interview Properly”—A Dangerous Mindset
Some construction leaders treat hiring like speed dating. They rush through interviews, barely engage with candidates, and make snap judgments—all because they’re “too busy.”
🚧 They believe their time is too valuable to slow down and properly assess candidates.
🚧 They assume they’ll be able to “figure people out” in just a few minutes.
🚧 They over-rely on gut instinct, skipping structured evaluation and deeper conversations.
But hiring isn’t speed dating. It’s a serious leadership responsibility.
When leaders rush the process, they:
- Set improper expectations for both parties.
- Miss critical warning signs that could have prevented a bad hire.
- Put good candidates in bad situations, causing unnecessary turnover.
- Lose the best talent to competitors who take hiring seriously.
💡 The irony? The time they “saved” by rushing the hiring process is nothing compared to the time and money they’ll lose later when the hire doesn’t work out.
As TJ Kastning put it in a recent conversation:
“To rush your hiring process, to not greatly invest in your skill set and perspective for hiring, is like trying to build an organization with balsa wood beams or on an unlevel foundation. It’s just difficult to build a company that way.”
Let’s break down the true cost of rushed interviews and how leaders should be approaching hiring instead.
The Hidden Costs of Speed Dating Interviews
🚨 1. Hiring People Who Aren’t Ready for the Job
- When leaders don’t dig into the details, they end up hiring people who don’t have the skills or experience they assumed.
- The result? The new hire struggles, underperforms, or quits.
💬 “Too often, our interviews are too smooth. They’re too short, they’re too shallow. They’re not preparing people to understand the complexity they’re going to handle.” — TJ Kastning
🚨 2. Failing to Set Proper Expectations, Leading to Early Turnover
- If interviews are too quick and surface-level, candidates don’t get a realistic view of the company, team, or challenges.
- When they start the job, they quickly realize it’s not what they expected.
💡 Success is properly set expectations. Failure is improperly set expectations.
🚨 3. Missing Critical Red Flags
- If a hiring manager rushes through an interview, they won’t uncover potential risks like:
❌ Poor accountability or job-hopping patterns.
❌ Inability to work within the company’s leadership style.
❌ Lack of alignment with the company’s pace, culture, or expectations.
Skipping deep conversation doesn’t eliminate hiring risks—it increases them.
🚨 4. Creating a Miserable Work Environment for Everyone Else
- Bad hires don’t just affect leadership—they disrupt entire teams.
- High performers burn out trying to compensate for underperformers.
- Morale plummets as good employees lose faith in leadership’s hiring decisions.
💬 “How expensive is a project manager mishire? How expensive is a superintendent mishire? How quickly can you lose $100,000 on a project—or a million?” — TJ Kastning
Rushing an interview might save a leader 30 minutes today—but it could cost them months of stress, lost revenue, and cultural damage.
Why Rushing Hiring Is Arrogant and Irresponsible
Hiring is not a side task. It’s one of the most critical leadership responsibilities.
❌ Leaders who claim they’re “too busy” for hiring are being arrogant.
❌ They’re assuming they can magically “read people” without doing the work.
❌ They’re prioritizing their immediate schedule over their company’s long-term health.
💡 “Leaders prioritize hiring. Make this your calling. This is something very, very serious to get focused on.” — TJ Kastning
🚨 If you’re too busy to interview properly, you’re too busy to lead.
The Right Way to Approach Interviews: Slow Down and Get It Right
✅ 1. Commit to Hiring as a Leadership Priority
- Leaders should block off time for hiring, just as they would for major business decisions.
- If you don’t have time to interview properly, you don’t have time to hire.
✅ 2. Define What “Great” Looks Like Before the Interview
- Many leaders don’t actually know what they’re looking for beyond vague qualifications.
- They need to clearly define:
🎯 What success looks like in this role.
🎯 What personality traits fit best within the company culture.
🎯 What problems the new hire is expected to solve.
✅ 3. Use Structured Interviews, Not Just Gut Instinct
- Gut instinct isn’t enough. Leaders need a repeatable interview process that evaluates candidates consistently.
- Every interviewer should:
📌 Have a clear lane of accountability.
📌 Be trained on how to ask meaningful questions.
📌 Write down objective feedback before discussing with others.
✅ 4. Leverage Personality and Behavioral Assessments
- Self-awareness is the first step to good hiring.
- Using assessments like PXT Select helps both leaders and candidates understand where they align and where they don’t.
💡 “A lot of leaders are like fish in water. If you ask a fish to tell you about the water they live in, they can’t. They don’t realize how unique their environment is, or how different competitors operate.” — TJ Kastning
Personality assessments provide clarity that many hiring managers lack.
✅ 5. Set Clear Expectations for Onboarding and Long-Term Success
- The hiring process doesn’t end when an offer is accepted.
- Leaders should:
📌 Have a structured onboarding plan so new hires aren’t left to “figure it out.”
📌 Check in regularly to ensure expectations remain aligned.
📌 Treat hiring as an investment, not a transaction.
🚀 When leaders approach hiring with care and discipline, they build teams that build companies that build projects.
Final Thoughts: Good Hiring Requires Time, Intentionality, and Respect
Leaders who speed date through hiring will pay an extraordinary price later:
❌ Wasted time and money on bad hires.
❌ Frustrated teams dealing with underperforming colleagues.
❌ Missed opportunities to build a truly great company.
✅ Leaders who take hiring seriously create durable teams, stronger culture, and long-term success.
💡 If you want to build something great, slow down and get hiring right.
Need Help Structuring a Better Hiring Process?
At Ambassador Group, we help construction firms:
✔️ Implement structured interview strategies that prevent bad hires.
✔️ Use AI and assessments to improve hiring accuracy.
✔️ Build hiring processes that actually work for busy leaders.
📍 Schedule a call here → Ambassador Group Exploratory Call 🚀
