Navigating the Challenges of Hiring: Thoughts from The Owner’s Room

Welcome to the Culture Focused Practice Blog

Hey there. I’m Dr. Tara Vossenkemper, and today I want to dive into something that’s been weighing on a lot of us: what happens when your hiring process is solid, your culture is dialed in, and still… no good candidates show up? That pit-in-your-stomach moment where the silence is louder than the “We’re hiring!” post you pushed out last week. You know the one.

Let’s Talk About It: The Hiring Drought

There’s a very specific kind of panic that comes from leading a team and staring at an empty candidate pool. It’s like, you’ve done the work—refined your funnel, made your expectations clear, aligned your roles—and you’re still getting crickets. This year especially has felt like trudging through hiring quicksand. I’ve cycled through hyper-focused problem-solving and good ol’ fashioned despair more times than I can count.

The Temptation to Lower Standards (and Why I Don’t)

I’ve been there—burnt out and desperate enough to consider settling. But I’ve also made that mistake before, and I won’t do it again. We’ve built in accountability across the team so no one (especially not me) can just say yes to a candidate out of sheer exhaustion. That structure protects us from short-term decisions with long-term fallout.

Holding Structure While Feeling the Doubt

This is one of the hardest balancing acts of leadership. You trust your systems, you believe in your process, but something still feels off. I call it “process doubt.” It’s not that I don’t think I can lead or problem-solve. It’s that I’m convinced there’s something I’m not seeing yet. And I can’t rest until I find it. It’s a uniquely exhausting part of ownership.

The Personal Side of Hiring

Even when I know it’s not personal, it still feels personal. Why aren’t people applying? Is it us? Am I the problem? I don’t think so—not really. But those thoughts creep in. I keep going back to the belief that the landscape will shift again. That strong cultures will call people back when they’ve had their fill of algorithm-driven, soul-draining work.

Closing Thoughts

If you’re in the thick of it, you’re not alone. This work is hard. It’s layered. It’s emotional. And most of us are doing the best we can with the information we’ve got. If this hits close to home and you want to be part of a space that supports this kind of honest reflection, I’d love for you to join us inside the Culture Focused Practice Membership. We talk about the messy stuff—like hiring, leadership, and what to do when everything you’ve built still doesn’t feel like enough.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for doing this work. And thanks for leading with integrity when it would be easier not to. #CultureFirst #HiringIsHard #OwnItTara

About the Author

Dr. Tara Vossenkemper is a gently-candid consultant who’s been in the trenches of group practice ownership since 2017. With a hearty blend of depth, irreverence, and a solid dash of humor (or so she hopes), Tara helps practice owners navigate the can-be-messy process of hiring, culture-building, vision generating, people-y issues, and all the other things that keep you up at night. When she’s not consulting, she’s probably wrangling her animals or homeschooling her kids—because why not add more chaos to the mix?

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