Hiring Mistakes Cost More Than You Think

 

Just because you know how to read notes, doesn’t mean you can be a musician.

Just because you can saw a piece of wood, doesn’t mean you can make a fence.

Just because you have a product doesn’t mean you can sell it.

Just because you know what skills are required to fill a job, doesn’t mean anyone having those skills would be a good fit for your team.

 

 

Companies large and small generally have the same protocols in place when it comes to hiring.

Write a job description, do an interview (possibly two or three) and voila, welcome to the team.

But if it’s a bad hire, large companies are quicker to get rid of misfits.  They’re more dispassionate and removed from the day to day. They’re quick to recognize the loss of productivity to the bottom line and its implications.

 

 

It’s more difficult for small businesses. We’re invested in our people. Our tendency is to give bad hires the benefit of the doubt, and we do all we can to try to make it work.  At an emotionally level, we feel partly to blame.  Was hiring the wrong person simply a matter of our bad judgment? Is it really our fault? Maybe.  Maybe not.  Regardless, the key is in taking responsibility and rectifying the situation as quickly as possible. Here’s why:

 

• Most of the time, when you hire the wrong person, and try to provide opportunities for improvement, it still won’t work: for you, for the new hire, and for your existing employees.
• On the whole, trying to get it to work eats up a lot of time.  It distracts both your and your other employees from getting your own jobs done and can be a major ‘brain drain.’
• It impacts the morale of your whole team.  Even the best have difficulty being productive and positive when there’s a shift in the dynamic, and that’s bound to impact not only you and your team, but your customers as well –  especially when your employees are outward-facing.
• Statistics show that the ROI for retaining a bad hire for 6 months, is the equivalent of a dollar loss of 18 months, in terms of salary, insurances and lost profits.

 

Clearly, it’s time for small business to stand back and learn to be more objective, not only in the selection process, but with their retention parameters.

 

How can you avoid mistakes in hiring to begin with?  Hire for the job.  We’ll talk about that next time.