My Why: Turning Hiring Mistakes into a Competitive Advantage
My path to founding Hire to Compete was shaped by real-world experiences — both the wins and the lessons learned the hard way. Every chapter showed me how critical it is to hire smarter, engage employees deeply, and build teams that perform.
An Underappreciated Employee
Early in my career, I found myself in a dead-end role where my potential was overlooked. Feeling underutilized and unappreciated was frustrating, but it also gave me an important insight:
When employees aren’t valued, both the individual and the company lose.
When I eventually joined a company that recognized and developed its people, I saw firsthand how quickly performance and motivation improve when talent is supported and trusted.
A Fully Engaged Employee
My next role was transformational. I took over a struggling 300-person sales and customer service department — I was the third VP of Sales in five years. Morale was low, and turnover was high.
Within three years, the story completely changed. We added 200 employees, both plants moved to 24/7 operations, and the team’s energy was unstoppable. It proved what I now teach every client: when you hire the right people and give them the right environment, performance takes care of itself.
A Painful Lesson in Misalignment
My final corporate position before starting Hire to Compete was the hardest — and most valuable — lesson of all.
On paper, it looked like the perfect fit. In reality, it wasn’t. The disconnect between leadership, expectations, and culture created stress that affected not only me but also my team and my family.
That experience gave me an MBA-level education in the hidden costs of a bad hire — lost time, lost energy, and lost trust. It became my turning point. I realized that hiring mistakes aren’t just expensive; they can quietly drain the life out of a business.
Why I Started Hire to Compete
I founded Hire to Compete to help companies turn hiring into a strategic advantage — not a guessing game.
We provide managers with science-based pre-hire assessments that reveal how candidates think, communicate, and fit into a team. Our assessments deliver over 10 actionable reports per candidate — including insights for selection, coaching, leadership, and succession planning.
Today, resumes can be easily enhanced by AI tools like Kickresume, Zety, and Resume.io, making it harder than ever to see the real person behind the paper.
That’s where we come in — helping you see beyond the résumé and make data-driven hiring decisions that build stronger, more engaged teams.
The Future of Hiring
AI is changing the hiring landscape, but one truth remains:
Companies win when they hire and keep high-performing people.
At Hire to Compete, our mission is to help you make hiring your greatest competitive advantage — by combining the human touch with the power of data.
AI is changing the hiring landscape, but we’re confident we can help you address your hiring needs.
Call us today!
John Bishop 314-651-1479