Most hiring problems are not talent shortages. They are messaging problems. That is the idea Right People Co. was built on, and it came directly from our work as a marketing agency.
A few years ago, one of our marketing clients called us with an unusual problem. We had been doing marketing for their asphalt company and things were going well. So well that the owner called us and said we need to shut everything off. They could not take on any more work because they did not have enough people to do the jobs. Our marketing had worked. And it had created a hiring problem. We realized the problem was not the labor market. It was the message. Their job posts looked like every other job post: a list of duties, a requirements section, a line about competitive pay. Nothing that told a qualified candidate why this company was worth leaving a comfortable situation for. We thought: we do this for their customers every day. Why could not we do the same thing for their jobs? We tried it. They ended up with enough qualified applicants to staff a second crew, with some to spare. That result turned into Right People Co., a division of Guide MKTG built around one idea: hiring is marketing.
We rewrite hiring messaging from the ground up. That means job posts, careers pages, and the story a company tells candidates from first impression to offer. We use a framework called the 5S Hiring Model: Signal, Story, Standards, Steps, and System. The quality of your applicants reflects the quality of your message. Fix the message, fix the applicants.
We work with local service businesses and trades companies. Plumbers, HVAC contractors, roofers, landscapers, construction companies, financial services firms, and others who hire skilled people in competitive local markets. We do not work with eCommerce companies, startups, or enterprises. Our framework was built for the business owner who is running a real operation, hiring real people, and tired of the same frustrating cycle of open roles that stay open too long.
Josh Cowen spent the first part of his career helping organizations figure out what to say and how to say it. As the founder of Guide MKTG, he has spent the last decade doing that for local service businesses, mostly in the trades and professional services space. Josh is based in West Michigan and is the co-author of You're Not Bad at Hiring. Becky Martin is co-founder of Guide MKTG, a StoryBrand Certified Guide, and a self-described word nerd who spends her days writing copy that gets people to pay attention and act.