The Reality of Hiring

Every bad hire costs

$17,000

*Average cost based on US SBA, SHRM, and Department of Labor data.

It's not just you.

74% of employers admit to making a bad hire. Most small businesses don't have a system — they rely on gut feeling, rushed interviews, and hope.

No structured interview process
No way to evaluate culture fit
No system to vet references

The problem is getting worse.

US employee turnover costs have tripled since 2010 — and they're still climbing.

Stop the cycle.

Find out what bad hires are actually costing your business — in 60 seconds.

3 questions, personalized result
Sourced from SHRM & Dept. of Labor data
Takes 60 seconds

Calculate Your Loss

Trusted by 50,000+ businesses

See How It Works

Hiring Problems? Solved.

Watch how The Hiring Academy gives you a proven system to find the right person, the first time and every time.

0:00 / 0:00

See Your Real Cost

What is one bad hire actually costing you?

Most business owners dramatically underestimate the true cost. It's not just the salary — it's the recruiting, the empty seat, and the damage to your team and clients.

46%

of new hires fail within 18 months
— Leadership IQ, 5,247 hiring managers

89%

of those failures are attitude, not skills
— Leadership IQ

95%

of employers admit to making bad hires
— CareerBuilder / TALN Cloud

Cost of a Bad Hire

1 of 4

What's the annual salary for this role?

More Free Tools

Used by 500+ business owners. No sign-up required for most tools.

View all 9 tools

Hiring Style Quiz

2-minute assessment

Interview Scorecard

Score & compare candidates

Job Description Builder

Build in 5 minutes

50 Interview Questions

Free PDF download

The Hiring Academy Online Training

4 courses. 1 system.
0 bad hires.

23 Lessons 48 Exercises

Business owner reviewing hiring strategy at desk

Hiring Fundamentals

Build the foundation — the 10 truths every business owner needs to understand before posting a single job ad.

10-Phase System Common pitfalls Build your process

HR professional reviewing resume with job candidate

Pre-Interview Essentials

Attract the right candidates and filter out the wrong ones before you ever sit down across from them.

Job descriptions Ad placement Resume screening

Interviewer conducting a structured job interview

Interviewing Mastery

A repeatable process that reveals who people really are — not who they pretend to be.

Phone screening The interview process Workplace tours

Manager shaking hands with new hire after successful interview

Post-Interview Process

From the final offer to their first week on the job — how to close the right person and keep them long-term.

Reference checks Making the hire Onboarding for retention

Included Free

Plus the tools to implement it.

Download: 32-Page Workbook

Exercises, drills, and frameworks — not theory, real tools you use this week.

Download: 100+ Interview Questions

Categorized by role, level, and what each question reveals about the candidate.

Download: Checklists & Scripts

Phone screen scripts, reference check templates, and scoring rubrics — ready to use.

David Lee Jensen speaking at a live workshop

2 LIVE Workshop Tickets

$500 Value

Live training with David — ask questions, get coaching, meet other graduates.

Pricing

Why risk your business on a smile and a handshake?

Be diligent, not desperate. Great hires increase profits.

David Lee Jensen

For 25 years, David Lee Jensen has been the person business owners call when they're tired of making bad hires. His clients range from local franchises to Fortune 500 companies. And his system has trained over 50,000 businesses to hire the right person, the first time, and every time.

His book The Naked Interview: Hiring Without Regret distilled decades of real-world hiring into a system anyone can follow. The Hiring Academy trains that process quickly and efficiently, online, 24/7.

The people you choose will change
the trajectory of your business —
and your life.

— David Lee Jensen

What Graduates Say

They stopped guessing

Business owners from entrepreneurs, blue collar, and white collar have used this system to take the risk out of hiring. Here's what changed for them.

McDonald's Franchisee

"Productivity has increased. Morale has increased. And yes, profits have begun to follow."

Ted Z.

Franchisee, McDonald's · New Jersey

Franchise

"It's crystal clear on evaluating what area you are hiring for. My managers will benefit greatly."

Todd W.

Jamba Juice · Utah

Healthcare

"Our hires have stuck too! Retention of great people is invaluable."

Dr. Steve S.

Chiropractor · California

Telecom

"Takes the guesswork and finger-crossing out of the equation."

Eric B.

CEO, Telecom · California

"It's like having a good friend who really cares about your business, sharing their years of experience."

Chuck W.

Investment Banker · California

Entrepreneurship

"ONE bad hire can cause YEARS of misery! Finally, sane solutions."

James W.

Entrepreneur · Arizona

Ready to join them?

Get the System

The Naked Interview: Hiring Without Regret by David Lee Jensen

The Book Behind the System

Every Bad Hire Starts with a Bad Interview
Learn 10 Proven Truths

The Naked Interview is the foundation The Hiring Academy is built on. It lays out a 10-phase hiring sequence — from questioning whether you need the hire at all, to phone screens that expose what resumes hide, to the second interview where the real personality shows up. Written for the owner who is the HR department.

"If you learn to see people for who they really are — not who they present themselves as — you will never make a bad hire again."

Get the Book