Hiring isn't guesswork.

In this episode, I'm joined by Frank Lofaro, who has helped over 1,700 businesses hire better, from zero-employee startups to companies scaling past 100 people. Before founding Tank Recruiting, he spent three years at AeroTech (one of the largest private staffing firms in the world) and was an employee #12 at Acquisition.com, where he worked as an internal recruiter and hired across an entire portfolio of companies.

We talked about how to make your first hire, avoid costly hiring mistakes, identify A-players, create better interview processes, improve candidate experience, and build a team that can scale with your business.

Whether you're a founder making your first hire or leading a growing company, this conversation is for you.

Connect with Frank:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-lofaro/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/franklofaro/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TankRecruiting
Website: http://tankrecruiting.com/

Connect with Harry:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hphokou/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@hphokou
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hphokou/

Join our industry events: https://hivemind.world/

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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
05:03 How Frank got into recruiting and joined Acquisition.com
08:50 Why hiring speed and candidate experience matter
14:13 Making your first hire: where founders should start
15:59 The mistake of hiring a COO too early
20:12 Why over-titling employees creates problems
23:20 Biggest hiring mistakes from 0–10 employees
26:53 Accountability meetings and managing performance
32:13 The hiring framework: Qualify, Amplify, Evaluate
36:02 How to review resumes and screen candidates efficiently
40:13 Structured interviews and objective hiring decisions
47:39 Take-home assessments and hiring tests
52:31 Frank's favorite interview question
53:49 Who should run first-round interviews?
56:59 The biggest hiring lesson: never compromise on culture fit
01:00:22 Why Frank started Tank Recruiting