The high cost of bad recruitment

A few days ago I worked out that I’m now in my twenty sixth year in the recruitment industry and I think that it’s fair to say that I’ve done my fair share of recruiting. And I can tell you with absolute certainty that one of the most costly, time-consuming blunders a business can make is picking the wrong person for the job.


How costly? The industry employment statistics currently estimates that the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the individual’s first-year potential earnings. That means a single bad hire with an annual income of £50,000 can equal a potential £15,000 loss for the employer.

On top of the financial cost the loss is compounded by the impact of a bad hire on productivity and team morale. One subpar employee can throw an entire department into disarray. Team members end up investing their own time into training someone who has no future with the company.

One of America’s top CEO’s has estimated that his own bad hires have cost the company well over $100 million. As a consequence of that he now offers new recruits a $2000 bonus to quit after their first week on the job!!

As the search and recruitment firm we’re not in that position but here are a few techniques we believe to be effective in preventing recruitment disasters:

1. Over-prepare: A job candidate isn’t the only one who should prepare before the interview.

When you’re recruiting employees for specific, technical roles, it can be hard to prepare the right interview questions. It’s useful to find an expert in the candidate’s specific field and get some advice on the best questions to ask. This is worth the extra effort, even if it means consulting someone outside your company.

So if you’re recruiting for an IT role, find and talk to an IT person about what makes a good team member. Then, add three specific IT-related questions to your interview. Don’t be afraid to loop back with your expert to get their feedback on the responses.

2. The secretary test: Great collaborators don’t pull rank.

All of the candidates who we invite here to meet us for an assignment are initially met by our team PA. Over the years it always surprises us to find out that a number of the candidates who had been personable and courteous to us were rude to her.

The ability to work well with others is a skill that benefits any workplace. An obvious way to gauge this is to contact the candidate’s references. But, why not take it a step further and dig into a candidate’s social media profiles? Switched on HR departments are already looking through candidates’ Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. I recommend going as far as checking a candidate’s Twitter feed to gain insight. You never know what you might find!

3. The curveball: Hide an unexpected question in the fine print.

We believe that the most effective employees are those who take the time to read the fine print. During one assignment a client mentioned that they write a small, unconventional request into a job application. This can be something as innocuous as, “Please list three websites you visit often.” In their view, candidates who overlook this question or didn’t provide a full answer aren’t worth interviewing.

Why? People tend to be the most alert and thoughtful during this initial stage of the job application process. If they can’t pay attention to details here, how will they perform once they’re on board?

When it comes to recruitment, Steve Jobs once said: "I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1. Given that, you're well advised to go after the cream of the cream. ...A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players."

How do you find your crème de la crème?

If you would like to discuss how you we can work with you on your key recruitment issues then please contact one of the Directors at www.chestertongray.com