Building Culture Inside an Organization
Jeremy Hicks · RizeX Monthly Mastermind · Eastern Idaho
Most business owners have a documented sales funnel, a marketing plan, and a growth strategy. Almost none of them have a written plan for finding and keeping people. Jeremy Hicks, staffing and recruiting veteran with over 20 years in talent acquisition, called that out directly — and walked the room through the employee life cycle framework he’s used to help businesses in this region actually solve it.
The labor market in Eastern Idaho isn’t getting easier. Production and warehouse wages jumped 15 to 20% in a matter of months. The supply-and-demand balance has tipped toward employees, and businesses that haven’t adjusted their approach are losing candidates before they ever get a callback. Jeremy’s message: this is fixable, but only if you stop treating hiring as something you do when you’re desperate and start treating it like the business function it is.
What Jeremy covered
The employee life cycle starts with attraction — and most businesses are invisible. Before anyone applies, they have to know you exist and want to work there. That means your brand, your social media presence, your physical space, and your reputation in the community are all part of your recruiting strategy whether you think of them that way or not. Costco’s arrival in the region is a useful case study: before they posted a single job, people were already asking when they could apply — because the brand’s reputation for pay, culture, and retention preceded it. If your business doesn’t have that kind of pull, the question to ask is: do people even know we exist, and would they want to work here if they did?
Always be recruiting — not just always be selling. Most business owners treat recruiting like a fire drill: a position opens, they scramble. Jeremy challenged the room to think about talent pipelines the same way they think about sales pipelines. You’re already networking. You’re already meeting people. Are you asking yourself whether any of those people could be a fit down the road — even if you don’t have an opening right now? The Casey Fisher approach he highlighted: always be talking to potential candidates, even when you’re fully staffed.
Get creative and get specific with your job ads. A vague job posting without a wage listed is a dead posting in today’s market. Candidates have access to the same information employers do — they know what the market pays, and if you’re not transparent, they’ll scroll past. Your ad needs to work like any other piece of marketing: it has to draw someone in, give them enough to act on, and make it easy to respond. That means listing the wage, making the application mobile-friendly, and cutting the intake form down to what you actually need to make a phone call — name, number, and a little context.
Simplify the interview process. Interview processes have gotten unnecessarily complicated, especially for roles that don’t require it. A production associate doesn’t need four rounds of interviews. Spend the time proportionate to the role, and make sure the interview is a two-way conversation — not just a company pitch or an interrogation. Candidates should leave knowing something real about you, and you should leave knowing something real about them.
Use the university pipeline. ISU’s CPI program, BYU’s internship programs, and career placement departments at regional universities are underleveraged resources for Eastern Idaho businesses. Hiring an intern from a program like this isn’t just affordable — it’s a way to cultivate someone before a full-time position opens. Jeremy pointed to the Museum of Idaho as an example: an intern they developed went on to win a state award for an advertising campaign she designed through the internship. When you build real relationships with university departments, they start sending candidates to you rather than you chasing them.
Understand what the role actually is. Not every hire needs to be a long-term culture-carrier. Some roles need a good person for six months. Accepting that, and being upfront about it, leads to better mutual agreements and less frustration on both sides. A great employee for six months beats a checked-out one for two years — every time.
What the room walked away with
A practical framework built around five stages of the employee life cycle: attract, recruit, interview, onboard, and retain. Jeremy’s core challenge to every business owner in the room: write it down. Turn your “hope strategy” into an actual plan with intentional steps at each stage. He also pointed to the Facebook group “I Need a Job Eastern Idaho” (6,000-plus followers at the time) as one of several places to spread job postings — with LinkedIn particularly strong for professional services roles.
A moment that landed
Jeremy ran video game stores earlier in his career. The secret to attracting applicants? He didn’t need to work for them — candidates came to him because the stores had built a culture and reputation that gamers actually wanted to be part of. People who loved gaming wanted to work there. That insight — that desirability is built long before a job posting goes up — is the same insight that separates businesses that are constantly scrambling to hire from the ones that always seem to have good people ready.
“Stop having a hope strategy. Put a plan together to actually find and keep talent.” — Jeremy Hicks
“Always be selling? I say always be recruiting.” — Jeremy Hicks
About Jeremy
Jeremy Hicks is the founder of BBSI’s staffing and recruiting division in Idaho Falls, with over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition starting with Robert Half International in 1999. He’s been a connector and community builder in Eastern Idaho for more than a decade — co-founding BNI chapters in the region with Ryan Harris and showing up consistently at nearly every major networking event in the area. He knows more people in this region than almost anyone, and his recruiting framework comes from years of watching businesses win and lose the talent game up close.
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The RizeX Monthly Mastermind meets every month in Eastern Idaho — an intimate gathering of local business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals committed to real growth. Every event features a speaker who’s in the trenches alongside you, plus time for meaningful conversation and connection.