Hiring is a critical aspect of running a successful business. Putting the right people in the right positions is essential to building a strong team that works together and thrives together. Unfortunately, solving the hiring puzzle is no easy task, but it’s a job that must get done.
If you’ve been in a hiring position for long, then you know that there are a good number of job seekers that you do NOT want to hire. Even worse, you have probably seen the impact that a late, lazy, arrogant, dishonest, mean spirited, awful employee can have on your work place. Bad hires that are a poor fit for the job, the team, and the company are an HR nightmare. Occasionally one of these people slips through the cracks and joins your team. It’s a costly mistake that needs to be avoided at all costs.
Even the best companies make bad hiring decisions from time to time. Why does it happen? According to a post from NewtonSoftware.com, here is why bad hiring decisions happen:
- 43% – Needed to fill the job quickly
- 22% – Insufficient talent intelligence
- 13% – Sourcing techniques need to be adjusted per open position
- 10% – Fewer recruiters due to the recession have made it difficult to go through applications
- 9% – Didn’t check references
- 8% – Lack of strong employment brand
Most of these things are within your control. Yet bad hiring decisions still happen and the results of a poor hiring decision are going to cost you big. Did you know that:
- 80% of employee turnover is caused by bad hires
- The average cost of a bad hire is 2-3 times the person’s salary!
- 95% of employers admit to suffering from at least one bad hire every year
Let those eye-opening statistics sink in for a minute. Bad hiring decisions are going to cost you a lot of money. This includes both direct and indirect costs like recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, lost productivity, damaged client relationships, decreased revenue, lowered employee morale, training, and other miscellaneous costs. It adds up quickly. All of these negative results can be caused by a simple hiring mistake. You can even caluclate an exact cost on Parker + Lynch’s Bad Hire Calculator.
It’s your responsibility to hire the right people for the job. If you make the job offer to the wrong person, it can result in a time consuming, complicated, stressful, and costly situation. Plus, you’ll make your job harder than it should be. In the unfortunate event that you make a bad hire, learn from your mistakes so that you don’t do it again.
When it comes to hiring, be patient. Take advantage of the resources around you to ensure that you always hire the right person for the job. Do your due diligence before you hire anyone. Background checks, reference checks, job interviews, hiring technology, and other checks are in place to help you avoid making a bad hire.
Ready to take your hiring to the next level?
WorkBright now offers online application and candidate tracking with some very advanced screening technology so you can make sure bad hires never set foot in your office! To check it out for yourself, request a demonstration here.
By: Derek Lennon, WorkBright
