Hello Reader, wishing you a bright Sunday morning.

Nothing weakens an internal audit function faster than hiring the wrong auditor.
Not weak processes. Not missing data. Not management resistance.

One wrong hire and suddenly:

• team started collapsing,
• audits stretch into months,
• findings lose depth,
• managers stop taking the team seriously,
• and control slips away before anyone notices.

I learned this the hard way after interviewing and training more than 600 people.
The pattern is always the same.

And to be honest Reader
recruiting internal auditors was one of the hardest tasks I ever faced.

Not because of interviews.
Not because of HR or external agencies.
But because of the reality of the market.

Today, there are more than 4,000 open internal audit positions on LinkedIn.​
Most of them stay open for months.

I remember the moments when I urgently needed a senior auditor.
I tried agencies, referrals, internal postings…
And it was always the same: “senior experts” who didn’t know our business, our processes, our culture, our people.

That’s when I learned a lesson that stayed with me:

A senior auditor without deep company knowledge cannot deliver real impact.

I saw it many times.
An expensive hire. High expectations. Zero effect.

Not because they were bad auditors.
But because internal audit depends on understanding how the business actually works.
And you cannot acquire that in two weeks.

How I changed my entire recruitment strategy

One day I said to myself: “Let me try juniors.”

Not perfect CVs.
Not five certifications.
Not someone who can quote the standards.

I looked for people who:

– learn fast
– handle tough feedback
– are humble
– work well in a team
– have ambition
– don’t collapse after the first challenge

And something surprising happened:

A junior with the right character grew faster in 12 months than a senior from outside in 3 years.

Once I realized this, I changed my approach completely.
I started building my team from the inside.

Facet5 helped with screening.
Our “Red Bull test” helped filter out low-energy candidates.
Daily work in the field showed who could really grow.

And you know what the result was?

A loyal, stable team that understood the company better than anyone else.

The principle that still holds today

Let me put it simply:

It’s better to grow your audit managers internally than to buy them externally.

Why?

Because someone who grew from junior level knows:

– the processes,
– the people,
– the decision-making logic,
– the informal rules of the game.

Even a highly skilled external manager cannot easily replace that.
And very often, bringing in an external manager demotivates the entire team who worked hard for years.

If you’re hiring an internal auditor today, read this twice

Here’s what I learned the hard way:

1. Don’t chase “ready-made” experts.
2. Look for character, not certificates.
3. Coachability matters more than experience.
4. Juniors with drive are gold.
5. A bad hire costs you 12 months of progress.

And the biggest truth I share Reader:

Internal audit is extremely sensitive to the environment.
The strongest teams are the ones built from the inside.

And we are extremely proud of our former colleague Eliška, who is a great example of what a strong junior training program can achieve. This is the result of six years of joint work. A big congratulations on earning the ACCA qualification.

Uncomfortable truth test

My former leader Thomas — and today friend, and also one of our newsletter subscribers — Thomas had one final interview question that revealed more than any competency test. He described a situation: it’s winter, you’re exhausted on the top of a mountain, and you have one phone call left. Who do you call? The answer mattered more than the story. Many candidates mentioned their parents or partner, which was human, but it lacked common sense. The expected answer was to call rescue first. This simple question showed how a person thinks under pressure, and it became a reliable indicator of whether the candidate has sound judgment.

One last piece of advice:​
Never hire a team of your own clones.
Your audit team should be a personality zoo — different strengths, different thinking, different energies.
That’s how you grow. That’s how you challenge each other. And that’s how the team becomes stronger than any single auditor could ever be.

Thank you for your support and learning with us.​
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