Wake-Up Call: Bad Hires Are a Lot More Expensive Than Good Ones

 

Hiring is expensive, but hiring the wrong person costs a whole lot more.

How much more? Try an additional $14,900.

And the really bad news? Nearly three in four managers (74%) say they’ve hired the wrong man or woman for the job.

That’s the latest from the folks at CareerBuilder.

And it snowballs.

“It’s important to note that there’s a ripple effect with bad hires. Disengagement is contagious — poor performers lower the bar for other workers on their teams, and their bad habits spread throughout the organization,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder.

So even if you’re only planning to add one person to the payroll this year, you want to tighten your hiring processes to ensure those expensive missteps aren’t happening. Here’s help.

Where Things Go Wrong

Some Monday morning quarterbacking from your peers who’ve already made hiring mistakes can help you avoid a similar fate.

Check out the list of reasons these managers felt the wrong person got the job:

• While the candidate didn’t have all the needed skills, though they could learn quickly (35%)
• The candidate lied about his/her qualifications (33%)
• They took a chance on a nice person (32%)
• They felt pressured to fill the role quickly (30%)
• They had a hard time finding qualified candidates (29%)
• They focused on skills and rather than attitude (29%)
• They ignored some of the warning signs (25%)
• They lacked adequate tools to find the right person (10%)
• They didn’t do a complete background check (10%), and
• They failed to work close enough with HR (7%).

You can probably spot some patterns in your own workplace that can be corrected.

Bad hires seem to boil down to issues on three main fronts:

1) They Don’t Do Their Due Diligence

Resume lies, incomplete background checks, underutilization of HR – all of these shortcuts can saddle you with a bum hire.

Not only background checks but reference checks can help spot any inconsistencies or downright lies. Make sure your company obtains permission from the job candidate with a stand-alone release form for a background check.

2) Making Too Many Assumptions

You know the old expression about when you assume . . .

Assuming someone can pick up skills on the job or that if they’re skills-proficient that their attitude doesn’t matter can quickly come back to bite you.

Hiring managers need to look at both hard and soft skills – as well your corporate culture – when evaluating candidates.

3) Lacking Resources

Whether it’s the time or the tools, hiring managers who feel ill-equipped to make the right call often make the wrong one.

Recall that $14,900 figure – spending a few more days to conduct an additional interview or the cost of a background check pales in comparison to how much you stand to lose if the wrong person gets the job.