Let’s skip the sugar coating. Making a bad hire is one of the most frustrating aspects of running a business.
Interviewees that wowed you with their initiative end up with fireable productivity levels. Candidates with extensive experience and great interviewing skills can’t seem to hit quota. Your newest team member won’t be satisfied until they’re sitting on the board of directors. Meanwhile, they neglect their entry-level responsibilities.
But even more frustrating than dealing with these poor-performing characters is figuring out when to cut your losses, how much it’ll cost your organization, and how you can prevent this disappointing situation from occurring in the future.
While you should be careful not to make a habit out of onboarding bad hires, you shouldn’t beat yourself up too much if one slips through the cracks either.
Nearly 75% of employers report hiring the wrong person for an open position. This issue has sparked debates across industries regarding the need for new and improved recruitment and hiring strategies that position organizations and new hires for success.
Bad hires come in many shapes and sizes, and what makes one employee a bad fit in one role might make them ideal for another. With that said, there are a few archetypes of bad hires that seem to pop up in every organization.
Let’s break down the telltale signs of these bad hires and what you can do to avoid hiring more of them in the future.
This type of bad hire grates against the dominant vibe of your workplace, often and quite loudly. Moreover, their poor fit often spirals into a consistently bad attitude, giving this bad hire a morale-killing one-two punch.
Smooth talkers know just what to say to get what they want.
Sometimes what they want is a position they are woefully underqualified to fill. Then they get through the screening process and on-board. Facing the day-to-day responsibilities of the role, their charade often quickly falls apart.
You’ll spot lost puppies wandering around the office, searching for teammates or managers to guide them through routine tasks and responsibilities.
All new hires need the training, tools, and time to adjust to their new role, but if a new hire seems to prefer offloading difficult tasks, you may be dealing with a lost puppy.
Hiring sales reps is an expensive process. But the real expenses come into play when you realize you’ve made a bad decision during that process.
An entry-level bad hire can cost a company anywhere from 30% of the hire’s first-year salary, which comes out to a painful average of $15,000-20,000 down the drain. Senior positions can lead to even larger losses. Some estimates place the price of a bad hire in leadership roles as high as $240,000.
Realize that the cost of a bad hire includes more than the cost of replacing them. Bad hires also drive down teammates’ productivity and require 17% more time and supervision from managers compared to their peers.
The time you spend recruiting to fill your now vacant position can also negatively impact an organization’s bottom line due to opportunity costs.
Let’s say your bad hire was responsible for $50,000 in sales this quarter, and it takes all of Q1 to find a replacement. In this case, your organization lost $50k in opportunity cost on top of recruiting expenses.
If you’ve made a bad hiring decision, you’re probably looking for the quickest and most effective way out.
Follow this step-by-step process to address the issue and avoid similar situations in the future.
Reducing bad hires can save your organization thousands of dollars, help retain high-performing employees, and protect your workplace culture.
To learn more about PerceptionPredict’s unique predictive analytics, check out our case studies to see how we revolutionized how international leaders like Mercedes Benz and CrowdStrike recruit and hire.
Ready to chat with an expert about leveraging predictive analysis to eliminate bad hires? Book a demo today.