Hiring for a new role requires advertising the role on different platforms, screening and identifying suitable candidates, carrying out interviews, and then making your final choice. After having cleared all the steps in your recruitment process, you make them the job offer. Now, you can expect to see them perform in their new role. However, unfortunately not too long after they join, it becomes obvious there is a problem – they are not the right hire.
In a recent survey involving more than 2,800 U.S. senior managers surveyed, over 76% of participants acknowledged hiring the wrong candidate, and almost 64% stated that the impact is more severe during the pandemic. Why? Let’s find out.

What are the common recruitment errors

It has been found that recruitment errors happen mostly in two ways.
First, a staffing mistake happens when the organization recruits a resource whose “fit” in the role has been called into question. This is an alarming and expensive situation and requires immediate, corrective action. The cost and the difficult task of letting go of the wrong recruit, honorably; and then the process of re-recruiting a better fit candidate, entails cost, effort & time, and also leads to a drop in the team morale.
On average, replacing a resource costs 30-50% of their annual salary, which rises up to 150% to replace mid-level employees, and increases to a gigantic 400% when it comes to sourcing high-level, specialized employees (Zety).
The second type of error happens when there is an opportunity lost because of missing out on an ideal candidate for an open position. This happens due to various reasons, including lack of understanding about the role, an overcautious effort, primarily from the point of reducing the first type of error. This kind of error is expensive for two reasons; the loss of a potential candidate in an already resource-constrained world; and another is the potential of losing a good candidate to a competitor.

Cost of a bad hire

The mayhem that the “wrong” hire can create is much beyond the obvious. The biggest impacts on the teams and organizations include:

• Time and effort wasted in hiring and training the recruit
• Diminished staff morale and productivity due to bad performance of new hire
• Increased stress on the team/supervisor due to increased workload in absence of required resource
• The damage that resource have done by talking to your prospects and customers
• The cost of repeating the procedures handled inefficiently
• The burden on other team members, who have to pick up the slack

But the cost of a bad hire doesn’t end just there. According to research it takes approximately four months to recover from a hiring mistake.

How pandemic is adding more to staffing errors

Many recruitment experts feel the pandemic has contributed significantly to hiring mistakes. In the past year, organizations have made big transitions due to the global pandemic, including the move to working remotely. Accordingly, there was an alteration in interviewing, hiring, and onboarding practices. When faced with so many changes, there are increased chances for error.
To highlight the situation even more, a bad hiring decision can have a ripple effect throughout the organization. Factors that contribute to these errors include –

• Scarcity of skilled personnel

In the current times, the demand for skilled people far outweighs the availability of resources. This has become even more prevalent, especially with the increased popularity of disrupting technologies and remote working solutions. There is a shortage of resources in these new technologies. Organizations are going to great lengths to source candidates to fill these roles.

• Expertise of recruiters

The recruitment decision-making in this complex remote environment is not easy, and thus requires specialized skills and experience. To avoid hiring the wrong candidates. It requires seasoned recruiters who have, over a period of time, acquired the aptitude of identifying and selecting the right candidate. Especially, understanding the new in-demand technologies.
The expertise of an experienced and learned recruiter not only avoids recruiting the wrong candidate, but also helps with not losing out on the right candidate. Recruiters need to map the closest person to fit the role, and build the successful team, they sought; avoiding the downsides of costly countermeasures.

• Wrongly evaluating compensation for new roles

Given that salaries account for more than half of organization costs, being judicious on compensation packages is a wise step. Especially, when organizations are uncertain about the future and are resource-strapped. However, recruiters also need to keep in mind that certain roles that are high in demand and negotiating salaries for these roles may lead to losing the right candidates, which are already difficult to find. Thus, it is advised to take the time to comprehend how much the right talent is worth to you. Attune this with how COVID is impacting talent availability for critical roles you are trying to fill in your organization.

• Not addressing candidate fear

Many candidates are hesitant to apply for a new role in the middle of the pandemic. It is important for recruiters to talk about career growth/trajectory and growth opportunities for the candidates, especially when there is economic uncertainty. Make the prospective candidate comfortable that you are not just focused on selling the role you want to fill, but you are also concerned about the candidate’s desire to envision a future career path.

It is advised to recruiters that during times of crisis and uncertainty, all you can do is approach candidates in a proactive, positive, and patient manner without being overly aggressive, insensitive, or pushy in your approach. Handling this fine balance is truly winning half the battle.

To summarize…

There is no doubt about the fact that poor recruitment has long-term impacts on organizations. Therefore, it is important that organizations take all reasonable steps to avoid making hiring mistakes. To save yourself from the costly error of wrong hire, partner with a recruitment agency to help you eliminate the risks involved with bringing a new employee onboard. An experienced agency utilizes its knowledge of different industries/domains, client requirements, and candidate capabilities to help select the right person for you.