Strategizing Your Hiring Needs for the New Year

As we approach Q1 in design or any industry, we start to rethink, vision, engineer and design the interior of our businesses. Because the new year feels like a blank slate, an empty schematic. We think about operations, company culture, branding, and profitability. The only problem is we’re not designing a physical space when we do this. We’re tackling the organizational design of our own companies. Things that can be understood and influential but aren’t necessarily concrete. Hiring, like many parts of organizational design, can be a risk no matter what. But that risk level is often escalated by a lack of intention. 

Hiring with the right varieties of intention can contribute to success in 2026 and beyond. Below are 7 tips and tricks for hiring with intention in the New Year. 

1. Diagnose Your Hiring Needs:  We’ve said it enough times that this might annoy you, but you need to decide, first, if you have a people or a process problem. If you’re hiring out of a people need, fantastic. But, before you can be sure, review your current processes and see if they’re accurate, up to date, and efficient. Include your team in this review, assigning processes to department heads and in the weeds workers for an audit. If you discover inefficiencies in your processes, redesign them for the new year and implement them before hiring. If your processes are all good and you have a people problem, let’s decide who we’re looking for.
2. Champion A Wishlist: Ask yourself (and maybe a trusted member of your team): Which roles drove the greatest value this past year? Where were the biggest skill gaps? What future initiatives require new capabilities? Focus on the next 2-3 years as you answer. These answers will give you the blueprint for your new-hire wishlist. Your wishlist is criteria. Stick to it. Create it before your search goes live. Stick to the needs your business has in both the short and long term. Try not to get distracted by shiny objects or future wishlists along the way. 
3. Be Curious And Informative: Research the market. Decide what you should pay to attract top talent and if how to make that a reality. Add the nuts and bolts of a day-in-the-life to your job ads. Then make a list of questions you’ll ask every single candidate. Use the same questions or rubric for everyone and listen for concrete, detailed, actionable answers. This will give you a higher likelihood of an objective, clear mind when it’s time to hire and rule out the smooth talkers. 
4. ASAP: Candidates are like customers. They need to move through your process quickly or you’ll lose them. Keep everyone moving to the next step ASAP, even if in tandem with other candidates. Remember that hiring should be one of your top priorities. ASAP is often sooner than you think it can be. 
5. Vibe Checks: Your candidates are going to Google you and do a vibe check. So do a branding and review check in. Surf the web to see if there is any negative fodder out there on glassdoor, facebook, etc. Work to rectify it if so, but also ask your current team and customers to post positive remarks. If not already done, start building branding that is true to your ethos. Definition of ethos and culture is a huge hook for candidates. 
6. Collaboration: Involve your team in the process. Tell them you’re hiring from square 1 and why so to cultivate clarity, trust, and team referrals. Know that fit with your trusted crew of champions is everything. You don’t have to have every team member involved in the interviews, but allow them time to meet and shake hands to gauge vibe and personality fit, particularly if they’ll interact a lot throughout the work day. 
7. Your Job Isn’t Done Once You’ve Hired: Throughout ample years in organizational design, we’ve noticed the majority of hiring managers and owners are either too worried about training to hire at the right time, putting hiring off completely, or they aren’t thoughtful enough about it. The work isn’t done the minute that you find a new hire. Solid employees are engaged and educated. It can mean providing the answers to anticipated questions, such as telling your new hire when to arrive on Day 1 and giving them an idea of the broad strokes of the day. Assign someone to educate them on each topic and check in with them throughout their first day, week, month, and year. Maybe that someone is you. Maybe it is someone you delegated the tasks to. Maybe next year it’s the successful hire you just found! 

Hiring in the new year isn’t about filling seats or filling 2026 goals, it’s about intentionally shaping the version of your business you want to build. When you approach talent with clarity, curiosity, and genuine collaboration, you set the stage for a healthier team and a more resilient organization. Thoughtful hiring, which can sometimes take time, patience, and intention, will help you step into 2026 with confidence, alignment, and the right people by your side.

Do you need help with strategizing for 2026? We’ve got you covered! Contact us today so we can find the right fit for your organization.

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