Hire Smarter, Not Harder: SCORE Chair Shannon Black Shares Her Post-COVID Recruiting Playbook

In the latest episode of Rock Solid: Round Rock Business Leaders Podcast, host Bryan Eisenberg sits down with Shannon Black, Chair of SCORE Austin, to unpack the hiring secrets every small business owner needs to know—especially in today's challenging Central Texas labor market. Black, a former math teacher and founder of Sunrise Montessori, brings a data-driven mindset to recruiting. She recommends posting job ads on Sunday mornings rather than Thursday: 'It takes Google and other search engines about 24 hours to go through and pick up the SEO in your ad. The number one time of the week that people look for jobs are Mondays during lunchtime.' To boost visibility without rewriting copy, she advises adding 30+ hashtags at the bottom of listings. Other practical tips include avoiding 'masculine' language that can deter female applicants and using a 10-minute Zoom pre-interview with unexpected questions like 'What is your favorite color?' to gauge cultural fit. Black's approach is born from experimentation and a math background that thrives on testing and measuring. Beyond hiring, Black highlights SCORE's free mentorship model—a national nonprofit offering over 1,000 workshops per month and virtual mentor matching at score.org. She previews an upcoming women's conference, a trades conference on June 13, and a four-day workshop on valuing and selling a business. She shares success stories like Justin's Austin clay studio and Desiree Fox's V Wear Love, illustrating how SCORE helps founders at any stage. Eisenberg also shares his own hiring wins after applying Black's tweaks, plus a lease near-miss saved by Round Rock realtor Bacha Porter. Listen to this Episode