In this episode of the Culture Focused Practice Podcast, Dr. Tara Vossenkemper breaks down what happens when hiring gets hard and you start questioning your standards. You know that moment — you're tired, you're desperate, and suddenly "Can they do the job?" starts to feel like an acceptable question... even though it's the wrong one.

Tara dives into three major areas in this one:

• The real (and painful) costs of lowering your hiring bar — think culture dilution, burnout, and endless training fatigue
• How to keep your standards high without getting stuck in analysis paralysis
• And how to survive the dreaded “hiring desert” — those times when nobody seems like a fit and you're wondering if the right person even exists

She shares practical strategies like using structured rubrics, revisiting your onboarding processes, and building out a talent pool to stay proactive (even when the inbox is dry). This one is for the folks in the hiring trenches — the tired, the cautious, the quietly desperate.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
01:34 The Cost of Lowering the Hiring Bar
06:24 How to Maintain High Standards in Hiring
11:00 Strategies for Navigating Hiring Deserts
19:09 Final Thoughts and Membership Invitation

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