220. How to Build a Hiring Funnel - Brandon Vaughn

Jun 4, 2025

Brandon Vaughn, CEO of HireBus and a seasoned entrepreneur in the contracting realm, shares insightful strategies for constructing an effective hiring funnel. He emphasizes the importance of a RightSeat™ Assessment to ensure the right fit for each role. Discover actionable tips on attracting top talent and crafting compelling job ads that stand out against competitors like Amazon. Vaughn also discusses leveraging AI tools to streamline recruitment processes, highlighting the need for personalized communication and a positive candidate experience.

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ANECDOTE

Bus Factor Lesson from Father

Brandon Vaughn shares how his father's business collapse due to health issues showed the risk of an owner-operator model.
This inspired him to build businesses with high "bus factor," aiming for redundancy and team building.

ANECDOTE

Wise Codings Rapid Growth

Brandon started Wise Codings from scratch, building it without hands-on experience and without answering customer calls.
The business grew fast to 37 locations and $2 million monthly revenue in under four years.

INSIGHT

Vision Attracts Aligned Talent

A strong company vision and meaningful core values attract talented people aligned with that dream.
Including equity incentives and robust training helps align team goals and scale faster.

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Those of you who know us know that we're huge advocates for putting as much effort into your hiring funnel as you do to your sales funnel.

And that’s exactly why I’m excited for this week’s episode.

Brandon Vaughn is a long-time entrepreneur, business coach and CEO of HireBus, a recruitment automation software built specifically for contractors.

Using what’s called the RightSeat™ Assessment, HireBus helps contractors get the right people in the right roles so both the business and employees win.

In this episode, I ask Brandon to walk us through an ideal hiring funnel for contractors, drawing on everything he learned from building and optimizing the RightSeat™ Assessment.

How do you find qualified people? How do you get them to actually show up to an interview? And how do you know that they are ACTUALLY right for the role they applied for?

Brandon covers all this and more.

Episode Highlights:

Get actionable recruitment tips from Brandon Vaughn, CEO of HireBus, a recruitment platform built for contractors.
Learn what an ideal hiring funnel for contractors should look like, and what you can do right away to start attracting better people while weeding out the duds.
Hear real examples of what good recruitment assets look like for contractors (if you want to steal some ideas, we won’t tell).

00:00-Intro

01:30-About Brandon and HireBus

07:51-Brandon's experience with Wise Coatings

19:40-Why focus on recruitment?

23:56-Learnings from HireBus for contractors

27:42-What makes the best job ads?

31:18-Importance of speed-to-lead in recruitment

34:40-How to qualify and prioritize candidates

37:31-How to get the right people in the right seats

44:26-How do you get people to actually show up for an interview?

50:45-Lightning round

53:46-Connect with Brandon