Hiring is expensive. But not in the way you think.

Yes, you have time and money to find the right person, but the real cost comes in hiring the wrong person. Not only does the wrong hire result in needing to pay to find a replacement, but there is also the time cost of having to get rid of them (if they haven't left already), interview, induct and train the replacement and the lost engagement and productivity during this time. 

So how can you avoid making this mistake? And why do companies keep getting it wrong, despite knowing the importance of getting it right? 

Here we outline the three most common pitfalls and some quick win solutions.

1. You Hire the First Person that Meets Basic Criteria

You advertise on a couple of job boards, get a massive response and then hire the first person that meets your basic criteria.

The problem with this approach is twofold:

• You’re dealing with job seekers which immediately restricts the quality of your candidate pool
• Candidates are looking for ‘a job’, not necessarily ‘the job’ and you can bet your bottom dollar they’ll be hedging their bets, talking to numerous companies, likely taking the first job they get offered

The solution here is to dig deeper and look for passive talent which means actively searching for that diamond in the rough – who may currently be working for a competitor.

2. Your Recruitment Process is Flawed

An interview should not be a cosy chat to affirm how similar the candidate is to the interviewer.

It’s about taking a structured and consistent approach.

A reliable job description is a great start but the key here is to do a deep dive of relevant skills and experience and 'test' them sufficiently in order to make an informed decision. This might involve scenario based questioning or asking for multiple examples of the same trait to identify patterns of behaviour to determine likely future performance on the job and ensure they're not just telling you what they think you want to hear. 

3. You Focus on Speed to Hire rather than Quality of Hire

Clearly there is a balance that needs to be struck here. If you take too long to hire then your top candidates are likely to lose interest and if you focus on ‘first past the post’ you’re reducing the quality of your potential candidate pool.  

It is imperitative each candidate understands what the process will look like and their expectations are managed accordingly. Similarly, a clear interview plan is needed to ensure the right people meet with the candidate and that they each have a unique and scripted role to play in assessing specific skills or experience.  

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that if….

• Your candidate pool includes only job seekers
• You don’t have a tailored set of interview questions and skill specific assessments
• Your recruitment process is a 'first past the post' tick box exercise

… then you’re probably hiring the wrong person.

And the more senior the hire, the costlier the mistake of hiring the wrong person.

Can you afford to fall into the trap of looking for cheaper hiring solutions, only to end up paying much more in the long run?

Email us your thoughts.

Photo by Tim Gouw.