<aside> <img src="/icons/token_blue.svg" alt="/icons/token_blue.svg" width="40px" /> **You’re looking for…**a systematic approach to determine exactly what level of hire your organization truly needs right now to solve both immediate challenges and support future growth.
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TL;DR: Clarify your organization's key challenges before hiring by identifying what's problematic, what's missing, what's fragile, and where you're headed. The right role at the right level addresses both immediate needs and future growth, preventing costly hiring mistakes.
What's in it for you (WIIFY):
Hiring at the wrong level isn't a minor mistake—it's often an expensive one that impacts morale, productivity, and mission effectiveness. Whether you're bringing on your first hire or expanding an established team, the decision isn't just about who to hire, but what role truly addresses your organizational needs. This guide helps you avoid the common trap of creating positions that might sound good but don't solve your actual problems.
Before diving into templates and frameworks, let's get clear on what's really going on. When it comes to your team:
Write these down somewhere - they'll help ground everything else.
Let me share some hiring stories from my experience - both the painful misses and the game-changing wins - that taught valuable lessons about finding the right role at the right level.
We were growing quickly, and our CEO was drowning in administrative tasks. The executive team decided we needed a Chief of Staff to manage the CEO's workflow and provide strategic support. We hired someone with an impressive fundraising and strategy background who had coordinated cross-functional initiatives at their previous organization.
Six months in, both the CEO and the CoS were frustrated. The CoS spent hours crafting strategic briefs and coordinating executive initiatives, but the CEO's calendar was still a mess, emails went unanswered, and basic logistics fell through the cracks. The CoS felt bogged down by mundane coordination tasks, while the CEO desperately needed someone who would excel at ownership of the day-to-day logistics.
What we learned: We had misdiagnosed the problem. The CEO didn't need high-level strategic support - they needed exceptional administrative coordination. We restructured the role to focus on calendar management, travel logistics, and communication triage - which meant reverting back to an EA position.
The key takeaway: Don't create higher-level roles because they sound impressive. Start by identifying the specific tasks that need doing, then determine the appropriate level.
Our team was expanding rapidly - and with it, the admin tasks!!! Everyone wanted to hire supports for their work - and we weren’t large enough to justify a specialized support for every function.