In episode 82 of the Rock Solid: Round Rock Business Leaders Podcast, host Bryan Eisenberg sits down with Shannon Black, Chair of SCORE Austin, to discuss actionable hiring secrets for small business owners navigating a challenging labor market. The episode, published July 14, 2026, addresses post-COVID hiring shifts, AI-inflated resumes, and the need to protect company culture during growth.
Black, a former math teacher and founder of the sold Sunrise Montessori, applies her analytical background to recruiting. She recommends posting job ads on Sunday morning rather than Thursday, noting that search engines take about 24 hours to index content. "The number one time of the week that people look for jobs are Mondays during lunchtime," she explains, making Sunday postings ideal for visibility.
To improve search rankings, Black suggests adding 30 or more relevant hashtags at the bottom of job listings, which helps capture SEO without rewriting the ad. She also warns against using masculine-coded language that can deter female applicants, and advocates for a 10-minute Zoom pre-interview to screen candidates, including unexpected questions like "What is your favorite color?" to gauge personality fit.
The episode also covers Black's recent rattlesnake bite while gardening in Georgetown, for which she credits St. David's in Round Rock for antivenom treatment. She pivots to highlight SCORE's free mentorship model, a national nonprofit offering over 1,000 workshops per month and virtual mentor matching at score.org. Upcoming events include a women's conference, a trades conference on June 13, and a four-day workshop on valuing and selling a business.
Black shares success stories, including helping a client launch a successful Austin clay studio and pointing to entrepreneur Desiree Fox of V Wear Love as an example of idea-stage founders served by SCORE. Eisenberg shares his own hiring wins after applying Black's tweaks and a lease near-miss resolved by Round Rock realtor Bacha Porter.
The episode underscores the importance of strategic hiring for small businesses and the resources available through SCORE. Black's data-driven approach offers a playbook for owners looking to build effective teams in tight labor markets.
